


What's Left Behind

by Itsnotme72



Category: The Vampire Diaries
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-11-30 00:57:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11452659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsnotme72/pseuds/Itsnotme72
Summary: This is my take on what happens after the series is over. It will be little vignettes of their life. Mostly just fluff. Spoilers for the entire series





	1. Forgiveness

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize in advance if the characters are written a little OOC. This is my first attempt at fan fiction.

Damon was hiding somewhere outside, probably with a bottle of bourbon. Elena knew that when his emotions got the better of him his defense was to get drunk, to hide, or preferably both. She had caught up with Caroline, Bonnie, Ric, and Matt. She had met the twins and been totally charmed by their antics. But she hadn't seen Damon since the cemetery. Matt had been called away by police duty, Bonnie left early to pack for her trip, and though it was only 8, Caroline was helping Elena clean up the remains of dinner before she left to spend the night with Ric and the kids. She wanted to give Damon and Elena some space.  
"He's not said much to me, but I know he blames himself. He wanted to sacrifice his life to save us all because he thinks he isn't worth redeeming. It's not that he's not excited to see you."  
"I know. I am very familiar with how that particular man's mind works." Elena put away the last glass and picked up a towel to wipe the counters. "I didn't wait so long to be with him because I didn't understand him. I waited so long to be with him because I did."  
"I never knew he was deep at all. I didn't see it for years. And I never made it easy for you two..."  
"Don't Caroline. I always understood and so did he. The crazy thing about him is that he wouldn't expect you to forgive him. He doesn't do things looking for forgiveness. He just does what he thinks is the best choice in that moment." "He told me that he expected me to hate him because he didn't die and Stefan did." She wiped at her eyes. "But I told him I was taking a page out of the Elena Gilbert handbook and forgiving him for everything. I guess I need to know that we... that we're good too."  
"Care, of course we are. We are friends for life and nothing will change that." She hugged Caroline. "Not so hard! Don't forget I'm human." She protested. She paused for a minute, and then said slowly. "Caroline, I'm really sorry about Stefan. I think you were good for him."  
"I know he was good for me. But hey, I promise I'll try not to get mad at Damon more than once a day!" She let out a watery giggle. "I guess I should go. Ric will have the girls ready for bed, but if I hurry I might be in time to read them a story."  
Elena smiled. " I love domestic Caroline. How many different lists do you make each day?"  
"Don't laugh! I've saved all the information I've gathered for when you get pregnant."  
Elena knew that was Caroline's seal of approval for her relationship with Damon. "I'll look forward to reading it when the time comes. I love you, Care."  
"I love you too!" They hugged as Caroline left for the night.  
Damon came staggering in a few seconds later, proving he had been lurking outside, waiting until the house was clear. "Hi honey! I'm home!" He slurred. Judging by the depth of liquid in the bottle, Elena could see he had been drinking a while.  
"Hi handsome," she kissed his cheek and grabbed for the bottle. He tried to pull it away, but his human reflexes and the bourbon made him slow. "I'm cutting you off. I made some coffee." She half pushed half pulled him to the kitchen and ignored his grumbling until he was finally seated.  
"Don't make me sober up. I'm not ready to face this day without a buzz." He protested, though he did sip the coffee she put in front of him, but only after she crossed her arms and stared at him. "What is going on in that beautiful head of yours? Sorry to be awake?" He took another couple of sips of coffee. "This wasn't what I wanted you to wake up to."  
She sat next to him and covered his hand with hers. "I know."  
He pulled away and scrubbed his face with his hands. "I mean, I'm so happy you're here, but I'm so sorry he's not. I'm just so mixed up and so..."  
"Drunk," she finished with a smile. "You're also human and your tolerance isn't what it once was. You need some food and a good night sleep."  
"I'm not really hungry," he told her.  
"Here's what I think. We are in a new place in our relationship. We've never both been human before. We need to form some habits if we are going to build a life together. Cooking together sounds like a good one to me." She opened the refrigerator. "How about eggs? How do you like yours cooked?" She asked over her shoulder as she started pulling out ingredients. "And by that, I mean how can you best cook them because we both know I'm hopeless in the kitchen."  
"Elena..." he got up and took the eggs and milk from her and placed them on the counter. "We need to talk. I need to tell you..."  
"Shhh!" She put her finger over his lips, interrupting him. "We will talk. Let's just do this first."  
"Ok but no eggie in a baskie. How about scrambled?" He folded up his sleeves and cracked two eggs into the bowl he got down when he started talking. "Do you want some?" "Sure. Just a little." She told him although she had eaten with her friends. She knew the solace that could be found in doing ordinary things and that is what she thought he needed. "I think I saw some cheese. How about we add that?" She went back to the refrigerator.  
"I don't know where the cheese grater is." He had his back to her as he competently whisked together the eggs and milk and sprinkled in salt and pepper.  
"That's ok. They have this new invention called already shredded cheese." She told him as she brought it to him and playfully bumped his hip with hers.  
"Smart aleck!" He said with a smirk.  
"Sorry! I know that's usually your job!" She retorted with a smile. "So how is the refrigerator stocked?"  
"How do you think?"  
"Caroline of course." She sprinkled the cheese just before he took the eggs out of the pan. Neither spoke as they retrieved plates and silverware. He started to pour her some milk when she protested. "I'll just have coffee. I don't like drinking milk."  
He smiled, a genuine smile that actually reached his eyes. "Me too. I wonder how many new things we have to discover about each other?"  
"Millions. You up for the challenge?"  
"Always."  
They talked about stupid things as they ate, mostly food preferences and she was happy to note that he actually ate all his eggs and finished two cups of coffee.  
She gathered up the plates. "I'll do the dishes. You go build a fire."  
He walked into the living room, and she checked to see that he was no longer staggering. She hurried to finish the dishes, not wanting to give him too much time alone. He was just finishing up the fire when she joined him. He stretched out on the couch and motioned for her to lay down with him. He positioned her between his legs with them facing the same way and kissed the top of her head. "I've missed you." He said quietly.  
"I wasn't supposed to have this, you know." He whispered. "I compelled him to leave me behind but he was always stubborn, always had to have the last word. He could never let me be the hero." Even though she couldn't see him, she could tell he was fighting back tears. What she had to say next needed to be said looking in his eyes, so she sat up and cupped his face with her hands. "You are a hero. He knew that and so do I. I could list lots of times you've been the hero."  
He took her hands down from his face and held them tightly in his. He looked down at their joined hands, not daring to look in her eyes. "You don't know what I did while you were gone. "  
"It doesn't matter. I still see the good in you just like I always have, and so did Stefan. I saw him you know." His gaze jerked up and met hers at that. "I saw him before I woke up. He told me what you were going to do. He told me that you were the brother he knew back in 1864, that you were the better man and that he wanted me to know that Damon."  
The tears were flowing for both of them now. "Why would he say that Elena? I've done terrible things. I've never been the brother he needed."  
"That's not true. I've seen how much you both love and take care of one another multiple times since I've known you. But Stefan was wrong about one thing though." She could see him brace himself for whatever crime she was about to accuse him of, and he would accept it, believing himself guilty of all that has gone wrong in her life and Stefan's as well. "He was wrong that I needed to get to know the Damon that he knew in 1864. That Damon is the one I've seen all along. He's the one I fell in love with. I've always known that man. I've always seen the good in you."  
He was still fighting back the tears but less successfully. He grabbed her and hugged her, burying his face in her neck. "But I wasn't the better man, Elena. You can't rationalize the things I've done."  
She held tight and rubbed his back. "But you were the best man you could be. And you kept trying to be better. That's all I've ever wanted for you."  
"I don't deserve you. I don't deserve to be happy."  
She pulled away at that and stared into his eyes. "I'd like to argue with you about that later, but right now I just have one question. Do I deserve to be happy?"  
This time, he cupped her face. "Yes, of course. No one deserves it more."  
"Well here is what would make me happy. Living together each day with you and you knowing that just being with you makes me happy. Damon, you always make me happy." She barely got the words out before he crashed his lips to hers.

"It feels different," he told her, rubbing her arm as the snuggled in bed.  
"Well that's because the last time you were human was 150 years ago and even then you were with a vampire. Do you miss it? Vampire sex?"  
"I think we rock each other's world vampire or human. It just feels strange, like I have to be more present or aware because I don't have forever. It just makes moments like these seem more real." He smiled, smirked actually. "I guess I'm not making any sense."  
"No, I understand. It's like the first time all over again."  
He grabbed her hand and kissed it as he got out bed and pulled on his jeans. "Here," he handed her his shirt. "We really need to talk and I can't think of anything but you when you are naked."  
Elena smiled seductively and let the sheet slip just a little. "Really? Are you sure you want to talk? We can do that tomorrow." She let the sheet drop all the way and at that moment, so did Damon's eyes.  
"Elena..." he breathed out her name as he kissed her.

The next morning Elena woke up in his bed alone. On the pillow next to her was a perfect red rose and a note from Damon.

Dear Elena,  
I am a coward. It took copious amounts of bourbon to gear myself up to face you last night. I'm not sure I have the nerve to try it again. Tell CareBear to give you everyone's journals and after you've read them all, then we will talk. Assuming you still want to. Please just remember that I love you.  
Yours,  
Damon

 

She showered and dressed and went to the kitchen for some coffee only to jump out of her skin. "Care, I didn't know you were here."  
"Sorry. I keep forgetting you don't have vamp hearing any more. I come bearing gifts. Damon wanted me to give you these." She handed Elena a stack of notebooks. "He texted me at 6AM. I guess he wants to get this over with."  
Elena finished fixing her coffee and sat down. "He's convinced I'll break up with him. He's always convinced I'll run because he runs when things get hard emotionally."  
"Why do you stay with him? Why do you always forgive him no matter what?" Caroline asked, sitting down next to her on a bar stool.  
"Let me ask you this. Did Stefan go off the rails while I was asleep?"  
"Yes..." Caroline admitted reluctantly. "But only because Damon..."  
"Did you forgive him?" Elena interrupted to ask.  
"Sure, but Stefan is different."  
"He's different because you love him. When we love people, we don't give up on them no matter what they do. I will always love Damon just like you loved Stefan. When we love people, we always give them one more chance because we know they need it and we hope they would do it for us. "  
Caroline hugged her. " I really missed you. I've got to sort through Stefan's things. I don't trust Damon to do it. I would say happy reading, but I know it's not."  
"Thanks, Care." Elena drank three cups of coffee and ate two pieces of toast as she read. The last cup of coffee next to her was getting cold as she finished up the tales of her friends' lives for the last few years. Her heart hurt for their struggles. She cried for all the pain she missed. She cried for Bonnie losing Enzo, for Alaric and Caroline's strange attempt at family, for Bonnie hiding out in a mental institution, for Stefan becoming the thing he feared most and for Caroline helplessly watching it happen. But most of all, she cried for the man she loved so much who struggled to hold things together, only to fail time and again.  
She sensed he was there just as she turned the last page. In her haste to make it to him, she knocked over her chair as she ran to hug him. "I'm sorry, Damon. I'm sorry I wasn't there to share your pain. And I'm proud of you for keeping on trying no matter what."  
"But did you read what I did? I killed Tyler and countless other innocent people. I made Stefan come with me. I used Ric and Caroline's kids. I'm a monster Elena. I don't deserve peace."  
"None of us do, Damon. There is no cosmic balance sheet where we can earn a happy life if we just do enough good deeds. The only thing we can do is find a way to get out of bed each morning and strive to be the best person we can be."  
"But my best is not so great." He told her with a rueful grimace.  
"Some days neither is mine. Do you know how I spent my last few years?" He shook his head. "I wasn't asleep and peacefully numb. I was trapped in my own mind and forced to relive all my memories over and over. And I realized that if I had it to do over again there are so many decisions I would make better. But the one decision I know was right was choosing you. I only wish I had chosen you sooner."  
"Elena...I dont deserve that. I don't deserve anyone's forgiveness for the things I've done."  
"Damon, I don't deserve to be loved as deeply and completely as you love me. I threw your love back in your face for a long time. I took you for granted. I never thanked you for being my rock. I was so weak I couldn't make it four months without you. Do you think I would blame you for struggling when I was gone for years?"  
"Did you read the part where I thought I burned you up?" He struggled to continue. "Where I ...?"  
She put her arm around his waist. "Do you know when I knew I loved you?"  
"When you became a vampire and you were sired to me." He answered without hesitation.  
"No, that's when I admitted I loved you. I knew on my 18 th birthday when you gave me back my necklace." He raised his eyebrows in disbelief at that. "It's true. I was afraid of what I felt for you, so I pushed you away for months. I'm not pushing you away now and I'm not letting you push me away either. We have been through so much Damon that we need to just take each day and live it. Because life is precious. I told you once if the past was a place without you and me together to stop living in it. I meant it then and I mean it now."  
"How did I get so lucky?" He asked her in a husky voice, kissing the top of her head.  
"You had a lot of really crappy days and you needed me."  
"Baby, you have no idea how much I need you." He laughed and hugged her tighter. "And as soon as Blondie leaves I'll show you. But speaking of leaving, we should talk about the future." As soon as he said that, his stomach growled. He laughed out loud at the idea. "Hey, will you listen to that? I'm actually hungry!"  
"What do you want to eat? What sounds good?"  
"I want a really big burger like we had at Bree's all those years ago."  
"You can have my pickles."  
"I'm not sure I can be with a woman who doesn't like pickles." He said running his finger down the side of her nose.  
"Ha ha. Just for that I will order eggplant Parmesan." She retorted with a mischievous grin.  
"I really hate eggplant. I lied that day."  
"I know."  
"But I promise we will eat it on our anniversary."  
"Sounds good. I'll go get ready and then we will go to the Grill and finish talking about our future." She told him. "Ok but the punchline is simple. I can't stay here. It reminds me too much of Stefan." Damon told her.  
"Then we will spend lunch deciding where to go."  
"Elena, you'd leave your home that easily?"  
"No, Damon. I will never leave my home because YOU are my home. Wherever I go, I'll be taking you with me."  
He kissed her then long, and deep and hungry until Caroline cleared her throat behind them.  
"Uh uhm... would now be a good time to tell you I've heard the last bit of your conversation?"  
"Hi Care. Sorry!" Elena said sheepishly as she broke away. Damon wouldn't let her go far.  
"Can I come along and talk about the future? I have some ideas too"  
Damon smiled and Elena was happy to see it was a real one and not one of the sarcastic smirks he had given her in the past. "Of course Blondie. You're a salvatore and any talk about the future includes you. Like it or not, we are family."  
"You know what Damon? I never thought I would say this, but I like it. I'm glad we are family!"  
"Ok now we have to group hug. But remember some of us aren't vampires!" Elena said with a laugh.


	2. Happiness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not really sure why this chapter from Damon's point of view is in present tense. If nothing else, it helps distinguish between Elena and Damon's voice.

2 years later

 

When the alarm goes off at 4:30 am, Damon wants to throw it across the room, particularly as he got in bed around 1 am, and Elena, who the alarm is actually set for, sleeps through it every morning. She insists on leaving it on her side of the bed so as "not to wake him up." And yet, the only person who doesn't wake up is her. He reaches across the bed and turns it off like always. "Elena, baby, wake up." She doesn't move so this time he breathes "Elena," into her ear along with his tongue.

She is instantly awake. "Damon!" She scolds him, but she softens it with a kiss on the cheek. "I hate this 6 am class! Only three more months until I graduate college."

"Yeah, and then four more years of medical school. Let's play doctor today." He says grabbing her hand and attempting to keep her in bed.

She kisses his lips this time before heading toward the shower. "We'll play doctor tonight. I get home early today. Go back to sleep. I love you."

"Love you too," he murmurs wide awake and a long way from sleep but too lazy to get out of bed. He admits to himself that he's unhappy with life. He's not unhappy with Elena, never with her. He loves her more each day. Even annoying things like the fact that her alarm wakes him up don't bother him when Elena is the one doing it. But the rest of his life, the part that doesn't revolve around Elena, that's the part that makes him unhappy.

When they left Mystic Falls two years ago, it had seemed right to go to the bar/loft combo he bought in Seattle before Ric and Jo's wedding. He isn't really sure why he never sold it in all those years after. It had been his secret, his hope that one day he and Elena could have the life they talked about. She enrolled in the University of Washington after Caroline compelled a few changes to her transcript from Whitmore, and he set out to open up his bar. On weekends, they explored the city, hiking, biking, and boating. Elena teases him that he has to exercise now to stay the "eternal stud."

At first, life seemed perfect. The bar is doing well. His manager is very competent. He hasn't felt the urge to "explode" in months. But day by day it comes to him that he is floating, drifting, living on the periphery of Elena's life rather than carving out his own. Life is tame. And it isn't as if he regrets not being a vampire because he doesn't. He just misses that element of danger, of living on the edge. And he knows Elena doesn't. Teenage Elena may have craved danger, but adult Elena values her safety and his. So he has never suggested bungee jumping, not that he would because that seems stupid to him, or sky diving, which sounds more fun but probably not Elena's idea of a good time, or even hang gliding. But when the answer for what he wants to do next jumps in his brain, he is afraid to share it with her. Will she laugh? He's been working up the courage to tell her for the last couple of weeks.

She comes back about ten minutes later. "Let's go back to bed. I just got a text that class is cancelled."

 

"Well then, let's play teacher/student instead, and we'll have class right here." He pulls her to him and kisses her until she is too breathless to protest, though she does try.

He takes some perverse satisfaction in the fact that forty five minutes later she doesn't even have enough breath left to attempt to protest. "You pass. Barely. But you are going to have to work harder if you want to earn an A."

She hits him with her pillow. "The next time we play doctor I might not heal your fever!" She retorts.

He laughs. "I love you too, baby. Now go back to sleep and dream of me, but don't drool." He positions her in front of him in their favorite spot, and she snuggles against him.

"When I am an actual doctor, I am going to have to find a cure for your raging ego."

"Good luck with that," he says with a chuckle. "We both know there is no cure for how awesome I am."

They quiet down, but after about fifteen minutes, she sighs loudly and rolls over. "What's wrong, Damon? I know you've got something on your mind. I can practically hear your thoughts whirring."

He laughs. Of course she would know he is restless. "I'm bored with just running the bar. I'm thinking about getting my pilots license."

"Really?" Her smile is broad. He's not sure whether it means "Damon, that's great," or "Damon, you're an idiot!" Or maybe it means something in between. "What kind of planes? As a career or a hobby?" She asks.

" I'm not sure what size planes and just as a hobby. I like running the bar. It just isn't enough of a challenge on its own. Seriously, you don't think it's a dumb idea?"

"Seriously, no. I don't. I think it's awesome. You should follow some dreams of your own. Running the bar was never going to be enough."

"You knew?" He asks.

"Sure. The truth is you bought this place to give me the life I dreamed about. You never really had time to think of dreams of your own. And I never said anything because the bar gave you something to do. But I've always been afraid this human life was just something you were doing for me. I'm actually relieved there's something you want to do." She smiles.

"So am I. I thought you would think it's stupid to feel a bit stifled."

"You can do anything you set your mind to. Just make sure you are firmly on the ground eight months from now. I have a new adventure for you." She tells him.

"Elena, are you...? Are we...? Are you saying...?" He grips her hands and stares into her eyes.

"I took the test this morning. I'm pregnant. I was going to tell you tonight over a romantic dinner, but I couldn't wait. Damon, are you ok?"

Two perfect tears gather in the corner of each eye. "I'm terrified and happy all at the same time. I love you Elena, and I am really sorry."

"About what?"

"About the fact that I'm not going to let you go back to sleep right now."  
She laughs. "Sleep is overrated."

 

He wakes up before she does after the second round of lovemaking. She has a class at 1:30 but it is only 11 so he figures he'll let her sleep a little longer. He pulls on some pants and heads to the kitchen to make pancakes. As he is mixing them up, he realizes she never said if she is happy. He also realizes his only role model at fatherhood was his own dad. And that his kid will be a Gilbert not a Salvatore. And that there are a million ways he can screw this up. Ric and Caroline won't even leave him in the same room with the munchkins unsupervised, not that he blames them.

"Are you burning pancakes?" She asks coming up behind him and kissing his ear. She lifts the charred remains of his first pancake off the griddle. "What's up?  
Burning food is my job."

In truth, she has gotten better, but she is still a terrible cook. "We can't be parents Elena. You can't cook, and I am a reformed serial killer. What kind of messed up gene pool is that?"

"I thought you took things much to calmly before." She tells him. "Keep cooking. Your child and I are both hungry."

"I'm serious Elena. We can't do this. My father was a terrible excuse for a human being and I am a monster."

"Breathe Damon." She cups his face with her hands. "I'm happy about this. I know it's right."

"How can you be so calm? I'm going to fail at fatherhood."

"Damon, seriously you have always been there for me when I needed you. No matter how hard you were freaking out on the inside, you somehow found a way to hold things together for me. You'll do it again. And this child will be so loved." She puts his hands on her still flat stomach. "That's the most important thing."

"But don't you wonder down deep inside if I will let you down? I've done it before."

 

"You only let me down when I pushed you away to cover up your hurt, and I am never pushing you away again."

"I think I need a drink. Maybe about ten." He says leaning against the counter for support.

"Good thing you own a bar. None for me and baby. And can you hurry it up with the pancakes? I'm eating for two here."

 

After they eat brunch and she goes off to class, he realizes he can't get drunk. He has too much to do. He realizes its ridiculously old fashioned but he was born in the 1800s and he wants certain things to happen in order. He wants to be married before he is a dad. It's not as if he hasn't been planning on proposing. He has the ring and everything. He has been thinking he would ask her the next time they are back in Mystic Falls. But now he doesn't want to wait.

He makes sure the eggplant Parmesan is flawless. He's been perfecting his recipe for a year, and he thinks he has one even he won't mind eating now and then. Instead of champagne, he chills some sparkling grape juice and he sets the table with fancy China, the set they had taken from the Salvatore house because she loved it. He still has no idea what he's going to say when she comes home.

 

"Something smells good. What's the occasion?" She asks as she kisses him hello.

 

"Just celebrating our growing family."

 

"Do I have time for a shower? You know I hate to eat smelling like hospital."

"Sure. Make it quick," he says. "Dinner is almost ready." Inside he's actually panicking but outwardly he thinks he looks pretty calm. So he has fifteen minutes to figure out how to ask the most important question of his life.

She comes out wearing the skimpy blue nightgown she knows is his favorite. He just stares at her as she walks to the table. It's the same look he always has on his face when he looks at Elena. He knows he's wearing it because his palms are sweating and he can't catch his breath. So of course he just blurts it out. "Marry me, Elena."

 

Her head jerks up and her eyes meet his. "What?" She asks.

He crosses the room to touch her hands. He has to touch her. "Marry me. I wanted to be romantic and ask you in Mystic Falls on the road where we first met. But I can't wait. If we are going to start a family, I want us to be a family. I want you to be my wife. To share my name. I want the baby to be the next generation of Salvatore's. I am so desperately in love with you that I want miles and miles of red tape binding us so that you can never untangle it."

At this point, he realizes she is crying so hard she can't speak. She can only nod. "Yes! Yes, I love you too, Damon." She says when she finally is able to breathe. When he kisses her, it's inevitable that clothes come off and they barely make it to the couch.

But he decides much later that cold eggplant Parmesan is the best way to eat it.

After they finish eating, he realizes he hasn't shown her the ring. "I've had this for months. I really had planned on proposing. I just didn't know how."

"I love how you did."

He gets down on one knee in front of her. "Elena Gilbert, I have loved you for years. We started off as enemies, then became friends, and now I can't imagine my life without you. Be my wife."

"Of course." He places the ring on her finger and she looks down at it. It is in the shape of an infinity symbol with a big round diamond in the center where it links together.

"Infinity," she says. "That is what you gave up to be with me."

"No, I promised you this is forever and it will be. As long as I live."

"I love it Damon. But you're getting better at hiding things." She tells him.

"I wouldn't hide anything this important in a soap dish." He stands up, pulls her out of the chair, sits down and puts her on his lap.

"Was it in your underwear drawer?" She asks with a smirk.

"Of course not. We both know you can't keep your hands off my drawers!" He tells her, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Ha ha. You are sooo funny. So where was it really?"

"I'm not telling. I might want to hide something there again."

"I'll bet it was somewhere in the kitchen." She suggests.

"That would be smart since we both know I do most of the cooking." He replies with a smile.

"No, that can't be it. You are too calm. Hmmm..."

He laughs. "If our kids are as curious as you we may be in trouble."

"Given our gene pool, I think the likely answer is yes. We are in trouble. Is it weird if I say I can't wait?"

He kisses her head. "You'll be a great mom."

 

They call Jeremy first. He makes a joke about it being about time and how sorry he is that he never got to stake Damon, but Damon knows Jeremy is happy for them. He has a capacity for forgiveness that rivals Elena's. Damon wants to tell Jeremy how proud he is that he is making something of himself and helping out at Ric and Caroline's school, but instead he just says, "Thanks Jer. Your blessing means a lot."

He walks away to give her and Jeremy the opportunity to FaceTime in private for a bit, but he hears her say, "that's Damon speak for I love you."

And Jeremy replies, "I know. We're good, Elena. I speak Damon too. And he knows he is like a brother to me already. It would just be wrong of me to acknowledge it."

"Guys are weird!" Elena responds. Damon can only silently agree, though he is pleasantly surprised and mildly shocked at Jeremy's understanding.

They call Caroline next. "How did he do it? Show me the ring! When are you getting married? When is the baby due?"

"Ok slow down, Blondie. You may not need to breathe, but we do. Not vampires anymore." Damon tells her.

"We haven't made any specific plans yet, Care. We called you as soon as we hung up the phone with Jer." Elena says.

"Well, let's get started. When do you get finished with school? You have to come to Mystic Falls. You are planning to marry here, right?"

"That's my cue to leave." Damon says. "My only job is to show up when Elena says and wear what Elena says."

Elena is finished much much later. "You know she will have forty lists and all the plans made the moment you roll into town." Damon tells Elena.

"Yes. And it will be beautiful."

"Don't all women have their weddings planned out by age seven or something? Are you going to turn into a bridezilla on me?"

"I guess you'll just have to wait and see! Are you scared yet?"

"Bring on your worst." He says pulling her in for a kiss. "We should tell BonBon next."

"That will have to wait until I get home from class tomorrow. The time difference means it's the middle of the night there. Do you think she'll be happy for us?"

"In her way," he says. "I don't think she will ever really be the same again." Bonnie had started traveling the moment the threat to Mystic Falls passed. She hasn't been home in two years for more than a few days here and there. 

"I think something is broken inside her. And I get it. We didn't do so well without each other either." Elena says ruefully.

"Enzo wouldn't want her to grieve like this." Damon says.

"Yeah well, I wanted you to enjoy your life while you waited for me to wake up. How'd that work out?"

"Touché." He says. "I think she blames me." He finally confesses the secret he's been harboring this whole time.

" No, she doesn't blame either of us. I just think our happy ever after reminds her of what she can't have. She loves both of us, but I think in a way it hurts her to be around us."

"Yeah," he says. "That's what I think too."

They are both lost in their thoughts for a minute or two when Elena says, "You should call Ric."

"Elena... I don't know. Ric and I have never gotten back to where we once were. Caroline will tell him."

"You should call him, Damon. He's still family."

"Ok, but no FaceTime. Just a regular phone call."

They both tell him the news and Ric is very supportive. To Damon's surprise, after that he and Damon have a long talk about the school and being a dad. It almost seems like old times, particularly when Elena brings him a glass of bourbon. He even thinks he hears some ice jangling in a glass on Ric's end too. Life is good, Damon decides. Right now, at this moment, he is happy.


	3. Nostalgia

4 months later

 

"What am I forgetting?" Caroline looked down at her clipboard frantically. "I know there is something missing. Maybe an actual wedding? I can't believe you wanted such a small ceremony." She told Elena.

 

"Who else should I have invited? All our friends and family are here. Plus how to explain our old life to the people we know in Seattle? This is the way it should be." Elena didn't want to admit that a big wedding would just remind her of all the people they had lost too. She was standing in front of the mirror in Caroline's bedroom at the boarding house, now school. It was the holidays a couple of days before the spring semester started, so the place was quiet. "Everything will still be beautiful downstairs, but I look like a beached whale!"

"Uh oh!" Caroline grabbed the tissues. "Pregnancy hormones are kicking in. You don't look like a whale. You look beautiful." Elena was wearing a candlelight colored silk dress with an empire waist and a flowing skirt to hide her four and a half month pregnancy. The bodice was tight and cut straight across with sheer straps holding it up. "I checked the altar and it is decorated. How about you? You have something old." She touched the necklace Stefan had given Elena all those years ago.

"Yeah, I never wear it but it seemed right today. I hope he would approve." Elena smiled wistfully.

"You know he would. He always thought you made Damon a better person." Caroline was choking back tears of her own.

"It almost feels like he is here. Watching over us. I guess that seems silly."

"No, I feel it too." Caroline cleared her throat and pulled herself together. "How about something new?"

Elena touched the tennis bracelet at her wrist and smiled. It was made up of links of infinity symbols. Damon had given it to her recently. She was surprised because Damon wasn't given to overt romantic gestures. He was much better at the small every day things. But on this particular day, they had a fight. Damon had been afraid ever since he found out she was pregnant - afraid she was overdoing things, afraid for her to lift her text books, afraid for her to leave the house, just generally afraid. On this particular Saturday afternoon, she had reached her limit which resulted in a yelling match, Damon storming out of the apartment, and Elena sobbing on the couch.

He came back about an hour later. Apparently, he had been walking the streets and had spotted the bracelet in a jewelry store window. He bought it because it reminded him of her ring. He gave it to her to remind her that she could not shake him because he was never letting go. "Will this work?" She asked calling Caroline's attention to the bracelet. "Damon gave it to me a few weeks ago."

"Ewww... I do not want to know the circumstances and why you are smiling like that! What about something blue? I think the forget me nots in your bouquet will work. Now for something borrowed." She opened up a box with a tiara inside. "I thought you might want to wear this. Bonnie bought it for my wedding."

"Caroline, it's beautiful. Thank you." Caroline placed it on her head and they both surveyed Elena in the mirror. "Has her plane taken off yet?" Elena asked.

"Last I heard she was still iced in. Are you sure you don't want to postpone? We can try again in a few weeks. And you can have a real wedding. I can help you plan."

"No Caroline. I want to do it today. Besides, if I wait any longer I will be forced to get married in a circus tent." She rubbed her stomach as she said that.

"I still can't picture Damon as a father," Caroline told her, shaking her head.

"If it's any consolation to you, Damon can't picture it either." Elena responded with a laugh.

"Don't you worry about what kind of father he will be?" Caroline asked seriously.

"Honestly, no. One thing I have always been able to count on is Damon's fierce love for me. I know the baby will get the same devoted love. And after all, isn't love one of the most important things we can give our kids?"

"Yeah it's just..."

"I know. It's just that Damon and fatherhood are not words that people automatically put together. Think of it this way, he acts like a big kid sometimes so my child will always have a playmate." She smiled. "He's ready for this Caroline. He already takes such good care of me."

"I know he was always there for you. It's just tough to wrap my mind around the concept. Anyway, enough about that. Are you ready?"

Elena wasn't sure if she was ready or not. She had no doubt she wanted to marry Damon, but this whole wedding was stirring up emotions Elena didn't want to face. She was remembering how happy she had been at Ric and Jo's wedding before her whole world fell apart. She was also conscious of all those they had lost who wouldn't be here. But, Elena reminded herself that the best way to get through grief was just to live her life. "Yes, I'm ready," she told Caroline, happy that her voice only shook a little.

Caroline headed downstairs to start the music. Elena was walking down the stairs alone. Waiting for her were their guests: Ric, the twins, Jeremy, Matt, and Caroline. She could almost imagine Stefan, Tyler, Jenna, and her parents were there too. She was holding back tears until she saw Damon waiting at the altar for her. He was wearing the look he always wore when he watched her. The look that she first saw when she descended the stairs at Miss Mystic Falls all those years ago. She loved that his feelings for her were on his face like that. No matter what happened, she never doubted Damon's love. And as happened so many times in the past, his love gave her the strength to walk to the altar where Damon and Alaric were waiting,

They had asked Alaric to perform the ceremony. In truth, Elena got so caught up in the look on Damon's face that she heard very little of what Ric said until he got to the vows.

Damon cleared his throat and spoke clearly, sincerity in his voice. "I wasn't sure what to say when you told me you wanted us to write our own vows. I've never been very good at writing things down. Stefan was always better at that," he said with a rueful smile that seemed to be reflected on everyone's faces. "But then I started thinking about everything we have been through. We've faced werewolves, original vampires, doppelgängers, sirens and hell itself. You compelled all our good memories away, spent years in a box like sleeping beauty, and I was stuck in a 1994 prison world, had my memories hijacked by a siren. Through it all, the one constant has always been our love for each other. You make me want to be a better man. Despite the fact that I and everyone standing here today know how little I deserve you, you already share my life. The only thing that's left is to make it official. I promise to love you in sickness and in health and for better or for worse. I love you, Elena. I am so ready to call you my wife."

Elena was smiling through her tears. Her voice was a little shaky as she said her vows. "Years ago, I met a stranger on the road who seemed to know exactly what I wanted. He told me I wanted a love that consumed me, passion, adventure and even a little bit of danger. And then he compelled me to forget. When we met again, he gave me all those things and so much more. So thank you Damon for giving me a love that consumes me. I could have done without the danger," she said as everyone chuckled. "But I couldn't have made it through everything without you by my side. And thank you most of all for not giving up on me through all our ups and downs. You have always been there for me, and I will love you until death parts us."

Ric asked for them to exchange rings and they had just finished their first kiss as husband and wife when suddenly the air was filled with white feathers. "Bonnie!" Elena exclaimed turning around to see her friend. "You made it!" She hugged her tightly.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world." Bonnie told her. "I'm just so glad we are both awake for me to see this."

"BonBon, glad you made it!" Damon said hugging her. "Bet you had your doubts this day would come."

Bonnie smiled serenely. "No, I knew you would get here way back when we talked about it in the prison world. You deserve to be happy Damon."

"So do you Bon," he whispered as he hugged her again.

"I'm working on it." She told him with a sad smile. "Maybe one day I'll get there."

Caroline had planned a delicious meal which they all enjoyed full of many stories and remember whens, and plenty of jokes that went over the twins' heads. They took a lot of pictures, posed photos, selfies and silly pictures. Damon and Elena fed each other cake, or more accurately, they shoved cake in each other's face, and finally after tearful goodbyes and promises to reconnect soon, Damon and Elena set off on their honeymoon.

They planned to go to New York the next day, determined to do tourist things and not the vampire things they had done the last time they visited, but for their wedding night, Caroline had planned a surprise. Elena opened the note as Damon pulled out of the driveway. His mood was already not the greatest because despite his threats, their friends had decorated the back bumper of his Camaro with a sign that read "just married," and tied cans behind the car. "Apparently she has booked us into a bed and breakfast about an hour away that and I quote 'recreates the 1800s in perfect detail' end quote." Elena told him.

"Why would I want to recreate the 1800s?" Damon asked, grumpily. "They sucked bad enough the first time I lived them."

"You know Caroline. She has always wanted to live in Gone With the Wind. She thought we would enjoy it."

"You know what I enjoy? Indoor plumbing. And electricity and central air conditioning. I don't want to spend my wedding night in some crappy recreation of the past."

"Seriously Damon. You have no romance. It could be fun."

"Let's just go to the five star luxury hotel I've booked and I'll show you romance." He said with a leer.

"I'm not about to throw Caroline's gesture back in her face. It's only for one night. It won't be THAT authentic I'm sure."

"It better not be. I'm warning you, if it has an outhouse, we are driving to New York no matter how late we get there!"

"Just drive before I get mad and you spend your wedding night on the couch."

"You looked stunning today. I couldn't catch my breath as I watched you walk down those stairs."

"You were really handsome too. I always love the way you look in a tux."

He grabbed her hand and kissed it. "I love you Elena Gilbert Salvatore."

"And I love... oh Damon. The baby just kicked!" She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. "There it is again. Do you feel it? I can't believe the first time we felt the baby move was on our wedding day. How perfect is that?"

"Maybe she approves of us getting married. Or maybe she's protesting the idea of a bed and breakfast that only has candlelight and no wifi."

"Damon!" Elena scolded taking his hand off her stomach. Damon laughed. "What's so funny?" She asked acidly. Damon only laughed harder. "Seriously why are you laughing?"

He grinned. "Your face is just this adorable mixture of really happy and totally pissed off. I love that look."

 

"You must be used to seeing this look because I'm pretty sure I wear it all the time around you!" She retorted.

"You do. The trick is to keep you more happy than pissed. Fortunately for me, I'm pretty good at keeping you happy." He said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he said the word happy.

"Damon!" She scolded hitting him playfully on the arm, though her face reflected exactly how happy she was.

Damon smirked. "The eyebrow thing gets you every time. It always has."

Elena wanted to protest but he was right. She always had been a sucker for the eyebrow thing.


	4. Worry

4 months later

 

Elena makes a sound somewhere between a whimper and a cry in her sleep. Damon hears it because he is awake. Lately, he feels like he hasn't slept at all. Elena is just a week shy of her due date, but the last half of her pregnancy has been hard. The first trimester, she didn't have many negative symptoms, but as soon as they got back from their honeymoon, it seemed to Damon that chaos became the name of the game.

 

Elena's morning sickness happened in the second trimester, not the first. But calling it morning sickness is like calling World War II a minor conflict in Damon's opinion. She has been sick all day long, not just the mornings. Classes have been a struggle for her. Any other time Damon would have mocked Elena's dietary choices, but when she manages to keep food down, he feels more like doing a jig than mocking. Except for the time he walked in on her eating rice covered in brown sugar and barbecue sauce. Seriously, he gets a little queasy thinking about it right now. He's pretty sure he said something snarky about that.

After the morning sickness came the dizzy spells. Her blood pressure was sky high. The solution from the doctor was cut out salt and sleep on her side. Sleeping on her side is no problem. She does that anyway, but Damon gave up trying to keep salt from her diet. She craves French fries daily. And just the other day he is pretty sure he caught her dipping cheddar cheese slices in barbecue sauce. He thinks he may be off barbecue sauce for life after this. But her blood pressure has been more stable.

 

Until the spotting started. Spotting. Why can't doctors speak English? Spotting is what you do to help a buddy out at the gym. Spotting isn't supposed to mean bleeding when you shouldn't be. The doctor put her on bed rest for that. As in she isn't allowed out of bed at all for this last week.

 

Elena has been so calm through the whole pregnancy. Each stage she handles without complaining much at all. And she has been hooked up to machines that check fetal heartbeat, fetal movement and a dozen other things about once a week. Through it all she never fails to tell him how happy she is or how excited to meet their daughter.

 

Damon, however, is not sure he will ever be ready. No one who knows him thinks him being the father of a girl will turn at all well. That's not true. Elena says he will be a good dad, but she is the only one who thinks so, including Damon. He thinks maybe his panic about being a dad is what triggered the nightmares again. He had them when he first became human pretty often. Crazy dreams of Katherine, Stefan in a safe, the Phoenix stone experience, and hell fire all jumbled up into one big freak show. Elena always hears him and wakes him up before things get too bad. And they had stopped until her pregnancy got rough. Some dads have sympathy pains, but he has sympathy nightmares, always imagining worse case scenarios.

 

She jerks in her sleep but this time she jerks herself awake. He is instantly concerned. "Are you ok?"

 

"I'm fine Damon. I just need to use the bathroom." He fights the urge to follow her. He knows he has been hovering, but the dizzy spells really scared him. He came home from the bar and found her on the floor, clutching the arm of the couch when she had the first one. She comes back to bed and attempts to find a comfortable spot. "Why are you awake? You didn't have a nightmare did you?"

 

"No, I just couldn't sleep and then you made some noises. You kind of cried out, so I've just been listening and ..."

 

"Obsessing." She finishes for him with a smile. "I'm sorry I kept you awake. You should try to rest. Neither of us will get much when the baby comes."

 

"Do you know that you always refer to her as the baby? You never call her Miranda. Didn't we agree we would name her after your mom?"

 

"Do I? It's probably just because it doesn't seem real yet, or maybe it's because I miss my mom. It would be nice to have her here to guide me."

 

"Yeah. I've been thinking about Stefan lately too. He and his hero hair would have had plenty to say I am sure."

 

"Not as much as Caroline. I've been ducking her calls lately because I haven't finished reading all that stuff she sent in the mail, and I think she might be calling to quiz me on it." Elena says with a laugh.

 

"At least she still considers you teachable. She told me I was hopeless." Damon replies.

 

"Did you deliberately mess up her questions to get her to quit asking you things?" Elena asks suspiciously.

 

"I like that you think you know me so well, but in this case... you are 100% right. Of course I did. Being hopeless is the only way I can get some peace." He says with a smirk.

"Damon! Damon..."

 

"It's not that big a deal. I promise I'll make it up to her..."

 

"No, Damon. I'm bleeding. We need to get to the hospital right away."

 

Damon is out of bed before she finishes her sentence.

 

 

Damon is pretty sure he has paced the floor of the waiting area 472 times in the last hour. He really wants to know what is going on in the delivery room. Which is ironic because when Elena told him she wanted him with her, he's pretty sure his exact words were "never going to happen." But like always, he isn't able to say no to her and so when they arrive at the hospital, he plans to be in the room. Until the doctor starts spouting scary words like placenta previa, fetal distress and c-section. That's when they kick him out. And it's when Elena finally lets on how scared she is and he can't do a thing to help her. He knows she is scared because of how hard she gripped his hand as he left the room. And of course her yelling at the doctor to bring Damon back right now as they escorted him away might have been another clue.

 

He paces again. He tries to run inventory for the bar in his head. He knows he should try to sleep, but even if he could nod off, he doesn't trust himself not to have a nightmare and start screaming about vampires and hell fire. That might raise some eyebrows. What he really wants is bourbon but he settles for another crappy cup of vending machine coffee.

 

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You seem pretty jittery already dear." A little old lady with a bag full of knitting asks him.

 

He smiles, well really he kind of grits his teeth and grimaces a little bit, but it might pass for a smile under the broadest interpretation. "Thanks. I'm fine." He sips his coffee and resumes pacing. He and the old lady are the only ones in the waiting room.

 

"First child?" She keeps knitting steadily. It's a sock or a bootie or something. Maybe it's a hat. Damon figures a potential father ought to know these things.

 

"Yes, it is." In times like these, he misses being able to compel people.

 

"Mom and baby will be fine. Relax. I have three children of my own and seven grandchildren. My oldest granddaughter is giving birth today. I've been through this plenty of times." She smiles again.

 

"That's great," Damon tells her turning his back on her and walking toward the trash can to throw his empty coffee cup away.

 

"You remind me of my husband Bill. He paced his way through all the births too. In those days, men weren't allowed in the delivery room. Of course with the way Bill paced it would have driven me crazy, but I'll admit it would have been nice to have him with me for the last one. It was a c-section. I never have understood why the kick fathers out for that. I'm guessing your wife is having a c-section now too." She keeps knitting and smiling and seems totally oblivious to the fact that Damon doesn't want to talk to her.

 

"Yes, that's right." He smiles absently, still pacing. Maybe now she will take the hint.

 

"C-sections always take longer. You'll feel better once you see your wife and hold your baby. Then you can stop all your worrying." She tells him serenely.

 

Damon attempts to smile and murmurs, "thanks." But the old lady is wrong. The worry is just beginning. Before, he just had to protect Elena, but now he has two people to worry about. And the baby probably needs to be protected the most from him if he's honest. With his luck, the baby will be as stubborn as her mother. He suddenly realizes that there will be two of them. He will be outnumbered. He is never going to win an argument with Elena again. He sits down and puts his head in his hands.

 

"How long have you been married?" The old lady asks.

 

Damon looks at her. He knows she is just trying to be nice and distract him, but he doesn't want to make small talk. Maybe if he shocks her she will shut up. "We've been married five months." He tells her, a real smile playing at the corner of his mouth. He waits for her to process that babies take nine months to cook and they haven't been married that long.

 

The old lady isn't phased. "And how long were you together before that?" She asks, still knitting steadily. Damon isn't sure how she seems to see him and knit without stopping, but she does.

 

He gives in to the inevitable. Either he is rude or he talks to her. Something about being rude to this woman makes him uncomfortable. "Nine years. But it was... long distance for a few of them."

 

"Oh really? Which one of your careers made that necessary?" She looks up briefly and smiles encouragingly.

 

He chuckles to himself. How to answer that? It's kind of a challenge just to navigate normal conversation sometimes. "Not our careers. She was... in a coma for a while." He finally decides to say.

 

"And you stood by her? Good for you. It sounds like you have already been through some hard times. You have a basis for your marriage. So many couples jump to divorce today at the first sign of trouble."

 

"We've been through our share of trouble," Damon says, privately thinking that is the understatement of the century. "How long have you been married?" He asks her.

 

"Longer than you have been alive,"  
She tells him. Damon smiles thinking that is not likely. "Forty seven years," she says. "But I'm still just as in love with my Bill as the day we met. How did you meet your wife?"

 

He thinks for a bit. Normal chit chat is hard enough, but answering all these questions feels a bit like walking through land mines. What can he say that will be true but won't sound suspicious? Or should he just make something up?

 

She laughs. "Don't worry. I have heard some pretty weird first meeting stories in my day. Bill and I met while taking out the trash of all things. We lived across the street from each other and never spoke until we just happened to be doing the same thing at the same time."

 

Damon thinks Bill must have been waiting to take his trash out until she did rather than it just being a coincidence, but instead he says, "we met on the road in the middle of nowhere. We both come from a small town. She was waiting for a ride and I was... reminiscing about things. I had just moved back to town after a few years away." Damon thinks he is getting pretty good at telling the truth without looking shady.

 

"And was it love at first sight?" The old lady asks, smiling broadly.

 

Damon realizes he has been congratulating himself too soon. "I think we were both really intrigued that night but she started out dating my brother." He finally has the satisfaction of seeing the old lady react.

 

Clearly, she is shocked now. "And how does your brother feel about the fact that you are married to his ex girlfriend?"

 

"He gave us his blessing. He thinks like I do that she is way too good for me. But she makes me a better person." Damon smiles.

 

"Well, I think you are a very nice young man. Not many men your age would humor an old woman and help her pass the time. I wish you and your wife good luck." The old lady wraps up her yarn and hands Damon the object she has been knitting. It's a lime green cap. "For your new little one," she tells him with a smile as she totters to the doorway where an old man with a cane has just entered.

 

"Thanks," Damon tells her with a genuine smile. He twirls the cap in his hand and wonders when he became so approachable.

 

The doctor appears in the doorway just then. "Mr. Salvatore? You have a healthy seven pound baby girl."

 

"And my wife? How is Elena?" He asks frantically. Does the fact that the doctor didn't mention her mean something? Damon wonders to himself.

 

"She's fine too. She has lost a great deal of blood so she is resting in the recovery room. The baby is with her. I'm sure you're anxious to see them both."

 

"Yeah, thanks doc." He hurries to Elena's room. He stands beside her bed. She looks so pale. An IV stand with a blood bag is next to the bed. It reminds him of the time he found her in the hospital when Klaus was taking her blood instead of giving blood to her. "I didn't want to leave you." He tells her, brushing her hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead. He's not sure if he means today, or when he left before Klaus came, but it doesn't really matter. He never wants to leave Elena. He never has wanted that.

 

"Damon..." she stirs and tries to adjust her position.

 

"Let me help." He pushes the button to adjust the bed to the spot she wants. "Can I get you anything?"

 

She shakes her head. "Have you seen her yet Damon? She is so perfect."

 

"No," he replies but doesn't move from his position by her bed.

 

"Go on. Meet your daughter. She's right over there. You can hold her if you want."

 

He walks over to the crib and stares for a moment. The baby opens her eyes and just stares back at him without crying. Right at that moment, Damon falls in love. He didn't know he could love someone else as much as he loves Elena, but he thinks he would fight monsters for this little girl too. "She is beautiful," he tells Elena without looking away from the baby. He finally gets the courage to pick her up. When he is convinced he can hold her without dropping her, he walks over to Elena's bed.

 

"I know we talked about naming her Miranda, but it doesn't seem right somehow. I want her to have her own special name separate from the past," Elena tells him.

 

Damon wants to say "duh!" But he doesn't. He has known she felt this way for weeks. He says instead, "did you have another name in mind?"

 

"No, I'm not sure what to name her. I just..." she fights back tears, and Damon knows she is missing her mom. She has felt her absence much stronger since she got pregnant. Maybe she feels like naming the baby Miranda would be a constant reminder that her mom isn't here.

 

"How about Carina?" Damon asks. "It means dear little one in Italian and with a last name like Salvatore..."

 

She reaches up to touch him and the baby. "It's perfect. I love the name. We can call her Rina for short."

 

"Rina Salvatore. I like it too." 

 

"What is that green thing sticking out of your pocket?" Elena asks.

 

He hands baby Rina to Elena and looks down to see what Elena is talking about. It is the cap the old lady gave him. He must have stuffed it in his pocket without realizing it. "I met this old lady in the waiting room. She gave it to me."

 

"Was she color blind? That color is hideous!" Elena tells him.

 

"I kind of like it. She was nice. She helped pass the time." He says swirling the cap on his finger.

 

"She probably just wanted to calm you down. How much did you freak out?" She asks smiling at him.

 

"Probably about as much as you did." He tells her with a smirk.

 

"You heard me?" She asks blushing bright red.

 

"The whole hospital heard you. But you calmed down as soon as they told you it was bad for the baby. And I'm glad you wanted me to stay with you."

 

"I'm not sure I can face these doctors and nurses again. I might be working with them one day and they will never take me seriously. I will always be known as the obnoxious patient who yelled for her husband."

 

"I'm sure they have seen worse," Damon says.

 

"Not helpful. I wasn't very professional." She tells him.

 

"You were in labor. Nobody is professional then. Besides, I may or may not need to replace the carpet in the waiting room where I may or may not have paced so much it made a hole."

 

"We are both hopeless," she tells him with a rueful laugh.

 

"That's ok as long as we are hopeless together. But just to be on the safe side, we should probably pretend like we are reasonable adults so they actually let us leave the hospital with Rina."

 

"Deal." She tells him with a smile. He bends down and kisses her, careful not to disturb Rina, who is sleeping on her stomach.


	5. Fear

3 years later.

 

Elena heard giggling and a childish voice demanding "do it 'gain daddy," as she walked through the door. She put down her books and walked to the kitchen and propped herself in the doorway without making a sound.

Damon and Rina were making dinner. Rina was standing on a kitchen chair with an apron tied around her neck. The thing she wanted Damon to do "again" was toss the pizza dough. Elena was jealous of how spotless the kitchen was. Most people would be surprised at what a neat freak Damon was. Elena appreciated that. She liked order and cleanliness too. What doctor or future doctor doesn't? She was just jealous of his ability to maintain order in the midst of the tornado otherwise known as their daughter.

"I can't toss it again. Mommy's home. And she is hungry as a bear when she first comes home from school." Damon said tickling Rina and lifting her down off the chair before turning himself and Rina around to see Elena in the doorway.

Rina ran to Elena. "Mommy!" Elena bent her head down for a kiss from her daughter before untying the apron. "No mommy. You hafta kiss me. My apron says so." She pointed to the words Kiss The Cook emblazoned across the front of it.

"You're right. I do." She kissed Rina as she removed the apron and folded it up. "You can go play with your toys until dinner is ready." Rina scampered off quickly in case Elena changed her mind. She walked over to kiss Damon hello. He was just finishing up the pizza. "How did you know I was there without turning around. You don't have vampire hearing anymore."

He put the pizza in the oven, dusted off his hands and turned to face her giving her a proper kiss hello. "I always know when you are nearby. Or maybe you just stomp really loudly." He said with a smirk.

"I'll just shower really quickly and then we can sit down and eat. I know I'm a bit late so I'll take bath duty alone so you can get to the bar on time." She told him. They had discussed child care when Rina was first born, but neither one of them had been crazy about the idea of day care. Even though their schedules were unpredictable, so far they were making things work. Elena tried not to schedule classes before 10 am, although some semesters that was challenging. The three of them spent the mornings together and then Damon took care of Rina while Elena was in class. When she turned three, he put her in preschool for the afternoon and he could do the paperwork for the bar then but before that, he made time during Rina's infrequent naps. After Elena got home from school, they would eat dinner together and give Rina a bath. Elena would read stories and tuck her in before doing her studying and Damon would head to the bar for a few hours to keep an eye on things.

"I'm not going to the bar tonight." He told her.

She had been almost out of the kitchen, but she turned around at that. "Why not?"

"We'll talk later after Rina is in bed. Go wash up for now."

"Damon..."

"Please, Elena. We will talk tonight I promise."

She agreed but with a sense of deep foreboding. She had a hunch whatever he wasn't saying was very bad.

So of course Rina was cranky that night. She could sense her parents tension. She ended up wearing more pizza than she ate. She was more rowdy than normal in the bath and she demanded a story from both Damon and Elena since it was unusual for both to be tucking her in.

When they finally got her settled, which didn't happen until Elena came in with a glass of water, Damon came in to scare away the monsters, and they both came in to say the next visit would result in the temporary loss of one of Rina's toys, Elena got a cup of coffee and sat on the couch. "Ok what's up,Damon?"

"Someone came in to the bar last night after dark asking for me. I was in the back doing payroll in my office. The staff knows better than to bother me when I am writing out their paychecks, so Joey, the bartender, told the guy I wasn't in. Anyway, the guy sat down and ordered a beer which he didn't drink and then starts asking all kinds of weird questions like how long have I been in town? Does the bartender know my brother? That kind of thing. I was busy last night until close so joey didn't get around to telling me until he got to work this afternoon."

"You think it's another vampire." Elena said.

"It's got to be another vampire. No one in Seattle knows about Stefan and it's suspicious that he came in at night and ordered a beer but didn't drink it."

"Maybe it's someone from your past or Stefan's who just wants to say hi." Elena told him a little desperately getting up off of the couch to pace.

Damon intercepted her pacing and pulled her into a hug. "There is no one friendly from my past. I told you once I didn't have any friends. It's got to be somebody looking for the cure and I don't want to be a 180 year old corpse."

"What should we do?" Elena asked him pulling out of his embrace a bit to see his face, but still keeping his arm around her waist.

"I already called Caroline. She is flying in tomorrow and she will compel all the employees to forget they know me. And she is helping me compel the right people to get the bar sold tomorrow and accidentally on purpose lose the sales record. Then, you Rina and I will fly in my plane to Mystic Falls. We will be safe there because we have people who know our secrets and it's small enough that any newcomer will stand out."

"Damon, I can't leave. I'm two months away from graduating med school. It's what I have been working for the past 8 years. I can't quit now."

"We will get Caroline to compel you a diploma. We should start packing tonight while Rina is asleep." He started to walk out of the room.

"Damon, wait. I'm serious. I can't just leave this close to the end and compelling me a diploma won't work. I plan to practice medicine on real live human beings. I can't just fake my way through and then heal them with vampire blood to fix my mistakes."

"What choice do we have? Somebody knows where we are, and the safest thing we can do is disappear as quickly as possible."

"That's it. No discussion? No compromise?" She asked, her voice rising a bit.

"What would you like to discuss? The weather in Mystic Falls or which toys to bring for Rina? There is nothing to discuss. There is only one choice. How should we compromise when there is only one option?" His voice had also risen a little, though they are both attempting to keep things quiet, if Rina wasn't asleep in the next room they would probably be yelling.

"There is another choice. I could stay in Seattle. The vampire didn't question your employee about me. He doesn't know I exist."

"That's not an option. If he knows I took the cure, he probably knows I did it for a woman. You are not safe and you are not staying here." Damon left the room in an attempt to end the argument.

Elena followed him to the bedroom. She noticed he had begun by packing her clothes, not his. Subtlety was rarely his strong suit. "Damon, what do I need to do to make you feel ok with compromising?"

"Get on the plane tomorrow and don't make me club you over the head and drag you on the plane myself." He sat down on the bed. "I can't do this, Elena. I can't fight with you. I have no idea how I'm going to keep us safe. Everything I did was to prevent this situation ever happening in the first place."

She shoved the suitcase out of the way and sat down on the bed next to him. "And I don't want to fight with you either. But you can't keep deciding what is right for me and forcing me to go along. I will come to Mystic Falls in two months. I am willing to take whatever precautions you deem necessary to keep me safe in the meantime. And I know you and Rina will go on ahead without me. Now what can we do to keep us all safe now that the worst has happened."

"Elena, don't ask me to leave you behind. I can't do that." He grabbed her hand.

"Yes, you can." She squeezed his hand. "First, I can move into a hotel. There would be surveillance cameras everywhere. I can change as often as you think I need to. That's a compromise."

"The problem is your school schedule. You have to be at your classes at a set time everyday. That is a routine that can easily be tracked. Routines are a problem." He got up and turned away from her.

She could see he was fighting not to be heavy handed. Fighting not to be the Damon who forced his blood on her rather than letting her go along with Elijah's plan. "Then we will have Caroline compel the school and change my records back to Elena Gilbert instead of Salvatore. If there is no record of a Salvatore taking classes, he would have no reason to look on campus. And if he shows up in one of my classes, I will know because I have been studying with the same people for years now. I can even start bringing coffee laced with vervain to all my study sessions."

"But you are still asking me to leave you alone. To protect myself and our daughter instead of you."

"I'm asking you to trust me to protect myself."

"I won't, Elena. End of discussion. I'm sorry. I just can't compromise. Not on your safety. You have no idea how hard it was all those years trying to keep you safe when you were in a box and helpless to protect yourself."

"Damon..."

"Don't. I'm not Stefan. I don't respect your choices when I think they are stupid. Nothing, not even your degree, is worth your life. How would I explain that to our daughter? Sorry mommy isn't around any more Rina, but hey we should be glad that she died with a full fledged medical degree!"

"This has nothing to do with Stefan. I don't care what he would have done. I didn't marry Stefan. I married you and I am asking you to trust me to keep myself safe for two months. I'll ask Jeremy to come protect me. He can take a leave of absence from the school. He fought vampires on his own for years in New Mexico. Between the two of us, I'll be safe."

"Little Gilbert as a bodyguard? That's your big plan? I don't trust anyone but me with your safety."

"You can trust me. And I'm through arguing. I am staying. End of discussion. I'm going to go sleep with Rina tonight if the two of you are leaving me tomorrow." She started out the door, but he pulled her back and kissed her.

Later as they were cuddling in bed, she told him, "this changed nothing. We are still at an impasse."

"Helped me work off some frustrations." He told her. "But I'm still mad at you and you still drive me crazy."

"That much hasn't changed and probably never will. But we can't just have sex every time we reach an impasse."

"It's worked so far," he told her. "I think it's the key to our healthy marriage."

"Damon!" She scolded.

"I'm joking. Mostly." He got out of bed and put his pants on and handed her his shirt. "I'm ready for round two if you are."

She put on his shirt. "I don't want to fight again. But I don't want to keep going over old ground. Nothing has changed. We keep fighting the same battles. And I get why you protected me from myself in the past. I spent a lot of years feeling guilty for living when so many people around me died. I really thought I deserved death. You helped me see that life could be enjoyed. Damon, we've finally gotten the life we dreamed of all those years ago. Do you think I would willingly give that up? I will fight for us and I will be as smart as I can but I will not run and hide my head in fear. I am fighting for the life I want."

"Stefan told me that while you were in the box. He told me that I make all my decisions out of fear. I'm not making this decision out of fear. I'm making what I think is the rational choice."

"It is fear, Damon. But it's not fear of losing me, not anymore. I think you feared that once. Now what you fear is not being in control. So much of your life has been out of your control that you fight to subdue the parts of your life you can control. Why do you think you like things so neat and tidy? It's control. I can't be one of the things you control."

"Ok, Elena. You win. We will do this your way. But if Jeremy can't help, the deal is off. Also, I am going to hire a private detective to give you round the clock protection. I want you to move hotels every few days and vary your routine as much as you can. Come home at the first sign of trouble and check in with me multiple times a day. Ok?" He hugged her and shook her a bit on the ok. "And also I get to win our next argument whatever it is. No compromise on that."

"Deal." She said, giving him a kiss. "I'm going to miss you. And Rina. Two months is going to seem like forever."

"I know. But you're the one who has the burning desire to play doctor. We could just travel the world and have a second honeymoon..."

"We will make it through. Let's just pack and then we will make love again. And tomorrow we will get through the day." She started to pull away.

"One minor adjustment. Let's make love again first and then we will pack." He told her.

"Does this count as the argument you are going to win?"

"Elena, please..." he scoffed. "This isn't going to be an argument. Pretty soon you'll be begging me to make love to you."

Ten minutes later, much to Elena's chagrin, she was the one begging him.


	6. Relief

2 months later

 

Damon can barely hear his phone ring over the noise of drills, saws, and hammers. When he finally does realize it, he pulls it out of his pocket and sees Jeremy's number. He heads outside so he can hear. "Jer, what's up? Shouldn't you and Elena be on a plane in about 3 hours?"

"I called to tell you I staked the vampire looking for you last night." Jeremy tells him.

"What? How? Are you sure it's the right guy? Seattle always seemed like a place vampires would like when we lived there. So many creepy little hole in the wall juice bars and coffee shops. It always seemed the perfect place for a vampire to blend in." Damon is tired. He and Rina left for Mystic Falls and Elena stayed behind with Jeremy just like they planned. Jeremy let Damon and Rina stay in his house while he and Elena moved from hotel to hotel every couple of days. Damon just wants the whole thing over. He misses Elena. They haven't spent a night apart until this since she woke up. Elena has never been away from Rina overnight before this. And Rina definitely misses Elena. She asks Damon every day why they can't go get mommy. The end is in sight. And if Jeremy actually got the vampire, all the worrying would be over.

"No, this is definitely the guy. I didn't want to leave Seattle with the threat of some vampire hanging over Elena's head, so I've kind of been going back to your bar every couple of weeks or so without telling you or Elena."

"Jeremy why would you do that? Who do you think you are Buffy the vampire slayer? I just wanted you to keep Elena safe and I wanted to keep a low profile. I have too much to lose now that I have Elena and Rina." Damon says angrily.

"You know I would never put Elena or Rina at risk, Damon. And you and Elena have to stop treating me like a kid. Especially since I staked the vampire. I caught him compelling one of the bartenders. I told him that I remembered a guy named Damon Salvatore used to own this bar and then he tried to compel me. He was pretty stupid."

"What happened next? Did he happen to give you a name?"

"He told me his name was Sam, but I am pretty sure that was a lie. Especially because he wasn't after the cure at all. He just wanted a new identity. He said you had a mutual friend named Billy and when he heard you had opened a bar, he thought you might be doing the same kind of business. Does that make any sense to you?" Jeremy asks.

"Unfortunately yes it does. Just more of my dark and disturbing past coming back to bite us all in the rear. How did he find out I owned a bar?" Damon isn't sure whether to be relieved the threat is over or not. "And what happened next?"

"Apparently he just happened to overhear your name when he came in for a drink one night. He really isn't bright at all and he was running from someone. His only plan was to lay low in the day and keep coming back to the bar to question all the regulars until he found somebody you didn't compel. He was unaware you were human."

"That's good. So how did you stake him? Did anybody see you? Seriously how long is this story?"

"I could probably tell it faster if you didn't interrupt so much. But after I told him I didn't know where you went, he decided to take matters into his own hands and get new identity by killing a guy in the alley behind the bar. I wasn't able to save the guy, but I was in time to save his girlfriend. She passed out and didn't see me stake the vampire. So I took her to the hospital and convinced them and her she was the victim of some crazy wild animal."

"Sounds like you did the best you could under the circumstances. So why exactly didn't you tell me this when you got here?" Damon demands.

"The reason is your wife. Elena is furious with me and she refuses to get on a plane until the girl I rescued gets out of the hospital."

"What? Seriously? Can't you control your sister?"

"No, I can't. She won't listen to me. She is at the hospital now."

"Alright, I will take care of it. I owe you one Jer. You did good." Damon says sincerely.

Jeremy chuckles. "Hey, as my reward, can you record that last bit so I can listen to it again? A sincere thank you from Damon Salvatore. Being human really has tamed you."

"I can take it back as easy as I said it so don't press your luck. See you soon Jer." Damon tells him as he hangs up. He immediately dials Elena. "Hey, whatcha doing?" He says as soon as she answers.

"Jeremy told you." She responds. "Damon, I can't leave her alone. It's our fault she and her boyfriend got hurt. She has no family either."

"It's not OUR fault. It's mine. We couldn't expect to run from my past forever. I have over 100 years of bad decisions to atone for. How bad is the girl?"

"She's suffering from multiple lacerations and a subdermal..."

"In layman's terms Elena. Despite helping you study through medical school, I don't speak doctor." He says somewhat impatiently.

"There is the wound on her neck. She's lost a lot of blood, and she hit her head on a rock when she fell and suffered a concussion. She's lucky Jeremy found her, but she should get to go home tomorrow."

"Good. Then you should have no problem getting on the plane and coming home."

"Damon, she doesn't have anybody and it was because I wanted to go to medical school that we moved here so it is my fault. I need to do this." Elena pleads.

"Baby, you are so compassionate. You want to help everyone, and I love you for it. But won't people think it's a little creepy when some random stranger is in the hallway spying on a patient? How are you going to justify hanging out with a woman you have never met?"

"But Damon, I can't just leave her all alone." Elena protests.

"Ok, you leave me no choice. Remember what I said when we were discussing leaving you behind in Seattle? I get to win the next argument. Well this is it and I am winning. So get down to the airport and get on the plane with Jeremy."

"Are you seriously going to try and pull that?"

"Yes, Elena. I am. You have no real reason to be at the hospital except guilt. If you want to feel guilty, feel guilty that your daughter has been carrying a picture of you around for the last two weeks because she told me she forgot what you look like or that I haven't had a decent night sleep since we left you because Rina has insisted on sleeping in bed with me." Damon tells her.

"Damon! You never told me those things." Elena says in surprise.

"I didn't want to worry you about things you couldn't change, but I won't have you up there worrying about things either. Just please come home." He tells her.

"Ok Damon. I'll come home. I just feel bad about this girl Amanda. I can't help feeling I am responsible."

"I know. And you wouldn't be you if you didn't. I love you despite the fact that you think everything in the world is your fault. You can't be around to screw everything up you know. Plenty of bad things happen everyday far far away from you."

"And I love you despite the fact that you make inappropriate jokes at all the wrong times. And guess who won't be getting any tonight if he keeps joking!"  
She retorts.

"Oh, Elena," he says with a laugh. "Stick with threats you have a prayer of actually carrying out. We both know you find me absolutely irresistible."

She laughs. "Why did I miss you as much as I did?"

"Because you can't live without me. Lucky for you, I can't live without you either."

After Damon hangs up the phone with Elena, he turns to go back into the construction zone. He knew that his family couldn't stay at Jeremy's house indefinitely and he doesn't want to stay at the Salvatore boarding school. So he came up with the bright idea to rebuild the Gilbert house as a surprise for Elena. He has definitely made progress, but he figures the house is still a few weeks from being a safe place to live with an active toddler. However, it is structurally sound enough for he and Elena to spend the night there tonight. Caroline is going to keep Rina for them. Rina loves slumber parties with Josie and Lizzie. But first he has to pick up Rina from preschool and run by the grocery store. Caroline needs some ingredients for the fancy dinner she is cooking for all of them tonight. He was working on installing some cabinets in the kitchen when he got Jeremy's call. He has no time to finish now, so he tells the foreman he is leaving and heads out to run his errands. He could let the construction crew handle all the work, but he likes the idea of actually building the house himself so he has been actively involved in each stage. He hopes Elena will approve.

 

He sees Elena before she finds them. Baggage claim is busy. He points her out to Rina who starts hopping up and down yelling, "mommy! Mommy, over here!"

Elena looks over at the sound of Rina's voice and smiles. She gets Jeremy's attention and points them out to him. Jeremy smiles at Rina's enthusiasm and says something to Elena. She heads over without her luggage. "Hey!" She kisses Damon lightly on the lips and starts to bend down for Rina when Damon stops her.

"You call that a kiss hello?" He asks as he takes her in his arms and kisses her deeply.

Rina is still hopping up and down when Elena breaks away. "Hey baby girl." She picks Rina up and hugs her tightly. 

"Mommy, I learnded a new trick. I can count to forty hundred." Rina tells her.

"Forty hundred! Wow, that's a big number. I can't even count that high." Elena says as she puts Rina down.

"Want to hear? One, two, free..."

"Hey, why don't you tell me about that pretty doll you have with you. I don't think I have seen her before." Elena says stopping the counting which she knows could go on for a while.

The doll has brown hair and brown eyes. It looks like one of those American girl dolls that are made to look like the girl that owns them, but although Rina has hair the same shade as Elena's, her eyes are blue like Damon's. Rina looks down at the doll which is a bit ragged and looks well loved. "Daddy gots it for me. It looks like you mommy. And daddy said whenever I felt sad because I couldn't see you, I should give my dolly a hug."

Elena looks at Damon with tears in her eyes. "What a good idea." She says. "Did it make you less sad?"

"Sometimes. But I like your hugs better than the dolly's." Rina tells her.

"Good. I like your hugs too." Elena says.

"But I liked it when you talked to me from daddy's phone cuz then I got to play with it. When can I get a phone like daddy's? Jenny at school has one."

"A three year old with an iPhone? I hesitate to think what kind of damage she could do with that!" Elena looks at Damon who has been quiet this whole time. "What are you plotting? You haven't said anything and silence from you is almost as worrying as silence from our daughter." Jeremy has arrived with their bags and Rina is now showing off her counting skills for "Unca Jer" as she twirls around and around.

"Just taking it all in," he says. "You have no idea how much I missed you."

"I have some idea. I missed you just as much." She grabs a couple of her smaller bags from Jeremy.

Damon grabs her biggest one. "We are never doing this whole long distance thing again. Just so you know." He tells her.

"No arguments from me," she says taking Rina's hand but all her attention still focused on Damon.

"Seriously? You two never change. At least wait until we get home to be making eyes at each other!" Jeremy protests.

"We need to find Jeremy a girl of his own so he will quit protesting when I make out with mine." Damon tells Elena as they start walking.

"It won't help. I'm pretty sure no one else on the planet makes out as much as you and Elena." Jeremy grumbles.

"I can't help it if everyone else is that dumb. But I'm not going to stop." Damon says with a smirk.

"I'm hungry," Rina protests and they all turn their attention to her.

 

After the reunion dinner with Caroline, Ric and the twins, Elena reads two stories to Rina which turns into four because Rina has been saving up books that mommy reads better than daddy. According to Rina, daddy reads animal voices better but daddy's girl voice sounds silly. Damon chuckles when he hears that. "I'm glad. Something would be seriously wrong if I could do a better girl voice than you."

It's only when Josie and Lizzie promise to watch a Disney movie with Rina that Elena and Damon can finally slip away. "Where are we going?" Elena asks. Damon has blindfolded her so she won't suspect.

He leads her out of his camaro and onto the front porch of the house which is finished. He wanted the porch complete even if the rest of the house is still a work in progress. He even bought a swing for the porch already. He takes the blindfold off and says, "welcome home."

She looks around for a bit and realizes where they are. "Damon! You rebuilt my old house?"

"We are rebuilding. It's not done yet. Do you like your surprise?"

"Oh Damon. It's perfect. I can't imagine anywhere else I'd rather live more. Let's sit on the swing for a bit." She curls up next to him when he sits down. "This may be the most perfect spot in all of Mystic Falls."

"I have a lot of good memories on this porch. It's where we had our first kiss." He tells her.

"I remember it well. I was so mixed up at that time. I liked that you kissed me but I didn't want to like that you kissed me." She reminisces.

"And it's the picture I planted in your mind when we talked about taking the cure."

"Do you ever regret it? Taking the cure?" She asks.

"Two months ago I would have had no hestation saying no. But I will admit in the last couple of months, I have thought about whether or not I can keep you safe as a human and it's made me second guess myself. But then I look at Rina and realize all that I wouldn't have if I had stayed a vampire, and I realize this life is worth every risk we take. I love you, Elena."

"I love you too. I'm so happy to be home. And I can't wait to make new memories here."

"I'm sorry you won't ever get to be a high powered surgeon in New York or Seattle." He kisses the top of her head as he says this.

"Moving home is the right choice. And I would rather be here with you and Rina than anywhere else. I'm so lucky to have this life. Being without you and worrying about vampires these past few weeks has reminded me exactly how precious life really is."

"You ready to go inside and make some new memories?" He asks, taking her hand. He wants to distract from the overwhelming surge of relief and happiness he feels right now. A small part of him had been worried Elena wouldn't feel the same way about rebuilding this house as he did.

She cups his face in her hands. "Let's make a new one on the porch. This is the place where I promise never to leave YOU again."

"Elena..." he breathes out, thinking it's a good thing Jeremy isn't here to see this kiss because it definitely isn't innocent.


	7. Stress

2 years later

 

Elena looked at her watch and calculated that if she hurried, she might possibly get half of her to do list finished. The last couple of years had flown by, but she felt like she and Damon were finally living the life they wanted.

It took Damon a year to finish their house to his satisfaction. He had it ready for them to move in about two months after she got back to town, but he spent another seven months doing detail work. She loved the finished product, and she was fully aware the reason Damon had taken so long on the house was because she had gotten pregnant the night she came back to town and he didn't want to leave her alone.

She hadn't started practicing medicine then. They had both decided since she had so much trouble with the first baby, she would just stay home and take care of herself and Rina. Damon ended up taking care of all of them since she had high blood pressure with this baby too and spent the last trimester on bed rest.

Damon also refurbished her dad's old office and then they sold it and bought another office space for her to open up her own general practice. She didn't really want to work the kind of hours that hospital work required so she figured this would be better, at least while the kids were young. And though Elena had forgiven her dad for his part in the Whitmore Society, she didn't want to practice medicine in the building where he had tortured people and Damon had almost died in a fire. Damon had helped her fix the new place up just perfectly. And she opened up her offices the month before. 

Caroline brought the twins by and insisted Elena give them an annual check up as soon as Elena opened the clinic doors. Elena was pretty sure the girls had had never been sick a day in their lives, but she knew what Caroline was doing and she appreciated it. And Caroline didn't need to worry about her staying busy. Plenty of people remembered Elena's dad, so she had all the patients she could handle by the time word got around town she had opened her doors.

But she made sure she had a two hour lunch break to come home and check on things, particularly her one year old son. They had named him Stefan. And some days Elena wondered if the doppelgänger curse was still around because he looked more like the original Stefan every day.

On this particular day, she was busier than normal because it was Rina's first day of kindergarten and it was the grand reopening of the Mystic Grill. Damon's last refurbishment was for himself. He heard the Grill was for sale, and he had enjoyed running the bar in Seattle. So he decided to buy it and completely renovate the entire place. He hadn't let anyone, including Elena inside for the last three months while he had it redone.

She had to get Stefan fed and bathed, pick up Rina from school, call to check on two patients, look over some applications for another nurse before the candidates came in for an interview tomorrow, and pick her SUV up from the shop all within the next two hours so that she and the kids could be at the Grill at opening tonight.

As always, the kids were the priority and then her patients. So she managed to get Stefan ready, picked up the car, called her patients from the road and got to school just in time to pick up Rina. "Hi sweetie. How was school?"

Rina flounced into the car and buckled herself into the booster seat. "Bad. I'm mad at you mommy."

"Why are you mad at me?" Elena asked, trying not to laugh at her daughter who was sitting in the back seat with her arms crossed and a pout that reminded Elena of Damon's exactly.

"You made my name too long. The teacher says we have to learn to write our whole names. Carina Miranda Salvatore is the longest name in the whole class. I told the teacher that my real name was Rina because nobody ever calls me all those other ones, but she didn't listen."

Elena bit her lip to keep the laughter inside. "I'm sorry. I guess your dad and I didn't realize how hard that would be on you when we picked your name out."

"Can you change it now? My first name can be Rina and my second name can be just C 'cause that's an easy letter to write."

"Sorry, Rina. You're stuck with the whole long name. Besides, it would hurt daddy's feelings if we got rid of the Salvatore part because that's his name. And it's the longest part. Did you make any new friends?"

"Yeah. I met a girl named Megan. She has a baby brother too. His name is Lucas and she says he cries all the time too, just like Stefan. She said she had to help change his diaper once and it was gross. We both think baby brothers are the worst. But she is having a birthday party in a few days. Can I go?"

"We'll see. What's Megan's last name? You know I have to meet her parents before you can go over to her house."

"Her last name is Fell which is not fair 'cause that's way easy to spell."

"Enough about your name Rina. We aren't changing it, but lucky for you I'm pretty sure I know Megan's parents already."

Rina spent the rest of the car ride telling Elena about all the things Megan had said and done that day. Elena figured if the teacher was smart, she would separate those two girls ASAP. It sounded like they did nothing but talk all day.

Stefan did sleep for most of the ride, and when he woke up, Rina tried to help distract him. But her idea of being helpful was to take one toy after another and shove it in his face and yell, "do you like this toy baby Stefan?"

On the plus side, between Rina's yelling and Stefan's screaming, she couldn't hear the rattle in her dashboard which the car dealership still hadn't managed to fix.

By the time she got the kids home, fed Stefan, got Rina a snack and got her changed, she realized she had only 15 minutes to change herself before it was time to meet Damon at the Grill. She realized she was spoiled. This was the first day she was completely on her own with no help from Damon. She had been determined not to call him despite the fact that he said he could be available if she needed him. She changed into the new dress she bought for the occasion and put on the infinity link bracelet he gave her when she was pregnant with Rina and the necklace with the infinity charm he had given her when they found out about Stefan. She even remembered to grab her present for Damon. Once she got the kids loaded up, they headed for the Grill.

Damon had asked her to be there thirty minutes before he officially opened so they could have a little time for her to tour before everyone else. He was waiting outside when they got there.

"How did the day go? Any problems?" He asked with a smirk as he helped her unload the kids.

"Piece of cake. You?" She grabbed the diaper bag and locked the car.

"My day was one small disaster after another and I am willing to bet yours was as well." He said after he kissed her hello.

"Why do you say that?" She thought she had managed to cover the stress of her day pretty well.

His smirk grew bigger. "5 years of experience as a parent and the fact that you are wearing some of Stefan's peas on your neck."

She blushed and handed him Stefan fumbling in her purse for a tissue and a mirror. Sure enough she had a dried green blob on her neck. "Ok so I got everything done on my list except a second shower. And I wanted to look perfect tonight."

He kissed her ear, right by where she had just finished wiping the baby food. "You look amazing. I love the new dress, and any stains that come from raising our kids just remind me how lucky we are to have them."

"You've gotten really good at saying the right thing to comfort me," she said smiling up at him.

"Good. Then maybe you won't yell at me when I tell you that Rina has just gotten mud all over her dress. I hope you brought her a change of clothes."

One new outfit for Rina, a new diaper for Stefan, and a bit of a scrub in front of a larger mirror for Elena's neck and she finally felt able to take the whole restaurant in view. He had kept the pool tables and the dart board but the interior was lighter and more inviting. The bar was still stocked with plenty of alcohol but it was more streamlined and less cluttered. The whole place was classy and elegant, not fussy and reflected Damon's refined but minimalist style. "It looks great, Damon. I've never seen the place look better."

They were stealing a few quiet minutes before he opened the doors to the line of people waiting outside. Stefan was asleep in a portable crib in Damon's office and Rina was sitting on the couch watching a Disney movie on the TV he had installed in his office just for Rina. "Thanks. Your approval means more than you know. I want this to work."

"It will. This is our life Damon. It's good. Both of us just modified our dreams a bit, but we are still doing what we want. And we get to have those two remarkable children." She smiled through misty eyes. "I'm so proud of you. So proud to be your wife. But I need to inform you that your daughter is very unhappy with you."

"Why is that?" He asked drawing Elena in close to steal a kiss.

"She has to learn to write her whole name and her name is the longest in class. She wants to change her first name to Rina and her middle name to the letter C. And then I think she wants to come up with a new last name entirely."

Damon laughed. "She will live. The question is will we? I predict there will be a lot of dramatic sighing and plenty of papers with holes from erasers in our future."

"That may be thinking too small. Rina's ability to create chaos has always been on a much grander scale."

That was the last quiet moment she and Damon had all evening. Everyone wanted to congratulate him on the new look of the Grill, although Matt and Jeremy couldn't resist admonishing him not to drive his Camaro into it again to blow the place up. And Ric told Damon that he figured he should get free bourbon for life. In between talking to guests and taking care of the kids, Elena brought a plate of food to Damon and sat next to him to make sure he ate some. But she finally left around nine o'clock. Rina had conked out about eight on the couch, despite declaring she was not one bit tired. Damon found a moment to help Elena carry her and Stefan to the car. "I'll see you at home in a couple of hours," he said giving her a quick kiss.

She got the kids settled down for the night and brewed a pot of coffee. When she went upstairs to change clothes, she realized she hadn't had a chance to give Damon his present. He didn't plan to stay until closing every night, but he wanted to stay until then the first couple of nights to make sure all went well. The Grill was closed at 11 that night, so she still had a couple of hours before he got home. She sat at the table with her coffee and the nurse's applications hoping to pick a couple she liked the best.

The next thing she remembered was Damon shaking her awake. "Elena, wake up. You'll get a crick in your neck sleeping down here, and I am too tired to carry you upstairs."

She stretched her back and rubbed her eyes. "What time is it, Damon?"

"It's 12:45. I just got in. The staff is good at waiting tables but bad at cleaning up for the night. Over all, I am pretty pleased."

"You should be. From what I could see, things looked great. The Grill has never been more crowded. And I have to hire another nurse. I could see double the amount of patients if I wanted to. I don't think I realized how much the town missed having a local doctor like my dad."

"I don't think you are so busy just because you are local. I think how compassionate and good you are probably has something to do with it too." Damon smiled and grabbed her hand as he led her upstairs.

"This seems like it could work, Damon. I'm almost afraid to say it out loud because I don't want to jinx anything."

He chuckled. "I feel the same way. Some mornings I wake up and I can't believe this is my life. Other mornings, I wake up and realize I have forgotten what sleep feels like. But I always wake up and realize that I am alive. And that's something that I missed all those years as a vampire. Building a business, being a dad and a husband, these are all things I never realized I wanted until you showed me. I love you Elena." He kissed her deeply and wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"You're not alone in that. Apparently, I'm so tired some days that I don't realize I'm wearing our son's food, but I wouldn't trade this life for anything. Before we go to sleep, I got you a present."

"Oh good. I'll help you unwrap it," he said trying to take off her tee shirt.

"Damon! I'm not the present." She pulled away and handed him a neatly wrapped square package.

"For the record, you are the best present and I fully intend to unwrap you after I unwrap this."

"I thought you were too tired," she teased.

"To carry you upstairs, yes. To make love? I'll only be too tired for that when I am on my deathbed." He opened the package she handed him to see a pair of silver cufflinks with infinity symbols engraved on each and a D and an E engraved inside the symbol.

"I figured you needed a reminder that this is forever from me too." She told him. "I hope you like them."

"I love them, and the next founders day shindig or Mystic Falls jamboree or whatever crazy town event we next have to dress up for I promise to wear them and show them off to the whole town. But right now I want to unwrap my private present. The one that I don't plan to share with anyone but you," he said starting to undress her.

"Let's hurry!" She told him pushing his hands toward his own clothes. "If we are lucky, maybe the baby will stay asleep until we finish."

They were lucky. No babies started crying until they finished. And then Stefan started crying which woke Rina up and the fact that she was now in her bedroom when she had fallen asleep in the bar scared her so she started crying. "What were you saying about not remembering sleep? I think this might be one of those nights. I'll take care of Stefan and you take care of Rina. If you finish first, sleep while you can!"

"Hey, just be thankful that there are only two of them. Imagine what it would be like if they outnumbered us! We might never to sleep again."


	8. Amusement

4 years later

 

Damon is at the Grill when he gets a call from Elena. It's the middle of the day which is usually Elena's busy time. She has started doing some rounds at the hospital in addition to her practice now that both the kids are in school. The practice has also expanded to include two physicians assistants as well as the two nurses she already had. Elena barely has time for lunch let alone the time to call and flirt with him. "Hey. What's up?"

"We have to meet with Rina's teacher at four this afternoon. She requested a meeting with both of us because Rina punched a boy at recess today." 

"Was it that Jamie Parker kid? He has been harassing her for weeks now." Damon has moved into his office and shut the door to talk in private.

"That's the kid. I know he's a punk, but she can't use violence to get her way."

"But it is ok for him to bully and sexually assault her? Please tell me they took care of the boy too, because if they didn't, so help me Elena, I will."

"No, he got suspended too. They both can't come to school for three days. The problem is that Rina told him her dad was a vampire and would suck his blood if he didn't leave her alone. And Jamie's mom was a Forbes before marriage so she knows all about the town's colorful past and she stirred up Rina's teacher." Elena sighs loudly. "Sometimes I think we will never truly escape vampires."

Damon can't help but chuckle. "Rina's teacher is new to town, so she doesn't believe Jamie's mom does she?"

"No. She thinks the woman is a few bricks short of a load. That woman complains about everything. I think Ms. Johnson was actually relieved to suspend Jamie and avoid dealing with his mom for a few days. The problem is that she called Rina in and talked to her about making up stories, and Rina insisted that you really were once a vampire and so now Ms. Johnson thinks Rina is mentally unstable."

Damon laughs again and then realizes Elena is not laughing too. "Come on, Elena. Lighten up a bit. The whole thing will blow over soon. We will tell Ms. Johnson that we haven't been as diligent in monitoring Rina's TV habits. We will say she caught a couple of episodes of that new vampire show they have on then CW. You know the one. Ms. Johnson can lecture us, we will be properly remorseful and then we will lecture Rina about spilling family secrets AGAIN when we get home. It's not the end of the world."

"I hope you are right, Damon. So you'll clear your schedule and meet me at the school at four?" Elena asks anxiously.

"Sure. See you then."

Elena is waiting in the parking lot when he pulls in. She is chugging a cup of coffee and pacing by her SUV, both sure signs of agitation. "Hey, so how many cups of coffee have you had today?" He asks grabbing her cup and kissing her cheek. He takes a sip out of her cup. "Not coffee. Espresso. Even worse."

"Don't start with me. Monica came and got the kids for us, but I talked to Rina before she left. She gave the kid a black eye. I just hope his mom doesn't press charges." Monica is Jeremy's wife. She is always glad to lend a hand with the kids when necessary.

Damon laughs. "Good for Rina. I suppose bringing her home ice cream would be a bad idea?"

"You are so not funny." Elena replies, grabbing her espresso away from him and drinking the rest.

"Come on. I'm a little bit funny. I'm pretty sure I saw you twitch just a little. Don't tell me you wouldn't be proud of how well she defended herself if it weren't for the whole..." he looks around and says in a mock stage whisper "v word situation."

"Let's just get this done. So we can get home and deal with Rina before bed." Elena starts absolutely stalking toward the school.

Damon takes a little time to enjoy the view before saying, "ok, but after the kids are in bed, can we find your sense of humor?" He only laughs when she glares at him over her shoulder.

The conference with Rina's teacher goes exactly as Damon figures it would. Their promise to more closely monitor Rina's viewing habits is all she really wanted. Damon figures the teacher is relieved. She doesn't want to believe Rina is crazy, and she certainly doesn't want to believe in vampires. This whole thing has just been a tempest in a teapot. Unfortunately, Elena is still mad.

The halls at the elementary school are empty, so he pushes her up against the wall and kisses her. "What was that for?" She asks when he lifts his head.

"First of all, when have I ever needed a reason to kiss you, and second, doesn't this whole thing remind you a bit of the time we got called in to talk to Jeremy's teacher? It was a high school of course, not an elementary school, but I pushed you against a row of lockers and told you that I wanted to..."

"Kiss every inch of my body behind a locked door while all the people outside who drove minivans were jealous." Damon is happy to see a smile cross her face at the memory, but then she frowns. "We are all the jealous people in minivans, Damon."

"I would never drive anything as uncool as a minivan. My mechanic's bill to keep the Camaro running smoothly attests to that. And your SUV is kind of a mom car still not a minivan, but I get your point. I think we need a break. Somewhere just the two of us."

"Damon, I can't. There's the kids and then my patients and..."

He grabs both her hands and looks into her eyes. "Relax. You go get the kids from Jeremy and Monica's. I'll pick up dinner from somewhere and meet you at home."

She sighs loudly. "Ok Damon. But no ice cream for Rina. We are not rewarding her for this stunt!"

"Ok. Ok. I hear you." Damon is mentally kicking himself for not realizing how exhausted Elena is. The signs are there and probably have been for a while. He knows life has been busy, but he realizes that it has been months since he heard Elena really laugh. He used to be good at getting her to relax in the middle of chaos, but lately he has fallen down on the job. He decides a vacation is exactly what they need, but where should they go?

He decides to take the whole family to the lake house. Elena is still grumpy. She is worried about taking Thursday and Friday off from her practice, and she is worried that they are rewarding Rina by taking her to the lake house when she is suspended from school. Damon says they will compromise by making her do some school work at the lake house. Stefan, who is only five and in kindergarten, will miss very little if they pull him out of school, but he still insists that he has to do his lessons at the lake house too. Damon can't help but smile. His son is so much like his brother. He misses Stefan less when he sees his son.

During the car ride, Damon makes up a ridiculous game with really convoluted rules that guarantee he wins. The kids try to argue like the game actually exists, but Elena knows what he is doing. And he catches her smiling a time or two out of the corner of his eye. By the time they get to the lake house, he is convinced she is actually only pretending to be grumpy. That evening as they tuck the kids in bed after a long day of boating, fishing, and more of Damon's silly games she is completely relaxed.

"See. I knew your smile wasn't lost for good." Damon tells her as they snuggle on the couch by the fire.

"I'm sorry I have been stressed lately Damon. I think the practice is getting to be too much. Mystic Falls is really growing and then Caroline sends me all of the medical stuff that happens from the school because I can be guaranteed to overlook any weird things I might find. I guess I really needed this break."

"You've always had the tendency to get a little overwhelmed when you get stressed. How can I help?" He kisses the top of her head.

"You do help always. I'm so lucky to have you as a partner. I know I am spoiled by how much you do for me. Just keep making me take breaks from life when I get stressed whether I think I want it or not." She smiles. "A timeout for five minutes."

He smiles too. "Our first road trip. How many have we taken since then?"

"Too many to count. I love it up here. I always forget how much until we come."

"I'm glad, but will you be mad if I tell you we aren't staying here the whole time?" 

"What do you mean?" She asks suspiciously.

"I called Monica and Jeremy and asked them to come up tomorrow after Jer gets done with classes. I also rearranged your appointments Monday morning. I figured we would run away and spend two days in New Orleans just the two of us. We can be tourists or we can stay in the hotel and do nothing at all. It's all up to you."

"I should be mad, but I am relaxed enough right now that sounds great. But why are the plans up to me? Don't you have anything you want to do?"

"Well... if it were up to me clothing would be optional and we might never leave the hotel room," he says wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Maybe we should leave the hotel a little bit." She says kissing his lips. "Though I do think there should be plenty of time to do some of your favorite activity."

"Hey now. I always thought it was both our favorite activity." He protests.

She laughs. "I'm not saying it's not my favorite activity. I'm just saying we've both been so busy lately that maybe I've forgotten."

"We can remedy that right here!" Damon says picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder as he carries her into the bedroom.

She laughs as he drops her down on the bed though she does half heartedly protest, "Damon!"

Later that night she kisses his cheek before they turn out the light. "Ok, I'll admit it's one of my favorite activities too."

"ONE of your favorite activities? Not number one far above everything else?" He questions.

"Well, this way there is room for improvement and you know what they say, practice makes perfect."

"I consider that a challenge. I'll show you perfect..." Damon says before neither of them speak as their lips are occupied with other things.


	9. Aging

1 year later

 

Elena was running late. That wasn't particularly unusual, but tonight she was supposed to meet Caroline at the Grill for coffee. She looked at her watch and decided she was too late to shower before she left. She had sold her practice last year to another doctor and now she was working exclusively at the hospital, but she was no less busy. She changed into a clean set of scrubs that she had in her hospital locker, threw her hair up in a bun and headed to the Grill.

Damon wasn't working that night. He liked to vary his hours and never had the same schedule from week to week. Elena told him he just liked his employees being unable to predict his schedule because then they never knew when he would appear and critique their work. In reality, he liked keeping things open so he could be there when Elena or the kids needed him. Tonight was one of those nights. Coffee with Caroline was a last minute change on Elena's part. "Sorry I'm late, Care. Have you been here long?"

Caroline was waiting in Damon's office. Elena had told her to go on back because she wanted them to be able to speak in private. "No, I just got here myself. The twins are causing crazy problems."

Elena put her stuff down, sat next to Caroline on the couch and took the coffee Caroline handed her. "Oh yeah? What did they do now?"

"It involved siphoning magic, a car, the geometry teacher and... you know what? I don't even want to talk about it!" She said waving her hands in front of her face. "But let's talk about you. Your text said coffee and 911 emergency. What's up?"

"Stefan's first grade teacher is driving me insane!" Elena told her.

"Oh really? Is she being unfair to poor Stefan? He is seriously the sweetest kid on the planet."

"You only think that because he reminds you so much of his namesake the other Stefan. He is actually a terror when he wants to be. He put three frogs in Rina's bed last night. He snuck in, put them in her bed, and left the room before she discovered them. He was already back in his bed pretending to be asleep when Rina woke us all up yelling about the frogs."

Caroline was laughing hard. "Oh, your house is going to be lively. Stefan should be worried. Rina is very creative with revenge plans. That girl is either going to save the world or destroy it."

"Some days I think maybe both," Elena told her. "But about Stefan's teacher, the problem is not how she treats Stefan. If anything, she gives Stefan special treatment. The problem is how she treats Damon."

"Ok, no offense Elena, but Damon is a big boy and he can handle somebody being mean to him. No one I know is better at putting people in their place than Damon."

"No, she isn't mean to him. She flirts with him."

"Ok, seriously. That may be even less of a problem than her being mean to him. Damon has not been interested in another woman since the moment he laid eyes on you. There is no way he would cheat."

"I'm not worried about Damon cheating. I know he would never do that, but she makes me feel so insecure and of course I don't want Damon to know I am feeling insecure because he will think the problem is with him, when really the problem is with me."

"So why do you feel insecure?" Caroline asked practically.

"First off, you wouldn't really have to ask that question if you had seen her. She is twenty two and looks like she belongs on the cover of a men's magazine. I caught Damon and Jeremy talking about her... more obvious attributes the other day."

"Ok, but Elena, Damon is still a guy. He's going to notice pretty girls. That doesn't mean anything. I'm sure if you asked him, Damon would say you are far prettier than she is."

"That's just it, Caroline. I don't want to have to ask him. I want him to tell me without me asking. I want him to look at me like he used to. Like I was his whole world and he couldn't believe I was his." Elena sighed. "I know it's stupid."

"It's not stupid. And I think he probably does still look at you like that. You have just gotten so used to that looks that you don't even realize when he has it. In fact I know he does because I saw it last month when y'all came to the fundraiser we had for the school. You were wearing that stunning blue strapless gown and he absolutely stopped talking to a gentleman from Los Angeles to stare at you across the room."

Elena smiled. "I do remember that. You're right. He does look at me like that sometimes. And to be fair, most days he sees me in sweats or scrubs so I probably don't look stunning. But it would be nice if he told me so. I guess I just feel old."

"That's ridiculous!" Caroline scoffed. "I have seen him look at you like that when you had no sleep from taking care of babies and were wearing jeans and an old ratty tee shirt. And you are not old."

"Says the woman who will never look a day over 18." Elena sipped her coffee and sighed. "I know I'm being neurotic Caroline. Why do you think I haven't had this conversation with Damon? A guy would never understand these things. Some days I'm not even sure I understand myself. It's just..I don't even know how old I am."

"What do you mean? I'm not following you."

"Well for starters, Bonnie is 35. That's how old you and I should be if we hadn't become vampires. You're stuck at 17. I became a vampire at 18. And I was one for two years before I took the cure to become human. So, I started aging again except I got put in a mystical coma. So do those years count? Did I age while I was asleep? Plus, when Bonnie put the cure in Stefan, I aged two years because the cure ages you the amount of time you have been a vampire. I get dizzy just thinking about it. Damon and I decided that I was 20 when I woke up because that's how old I should have been when I went to sleep. The whole thing just makes me feel ancient, and this hot 22 year old flirting with my husband? That just makes it worse."

"So does Damon notice she flirts?" Caroline asked.

"He has to notice. She's not the least bit subtle. For one thing, she has called three parent teacher conferences and Stefan isn't behind on his work or a behavior problem. What's more, she scheduled the conferences by email and she sent them to Damon's email. But she shouldn't even have Damon's email. Damon and I take turns filling out the paperwork. This year, he is the primary contact for Rina and I am on file for Stefan. She had to track down Damon's email. And I have shown up at every conference because Damon and I coordinate our schedules every day."

"Did Damon ask her why she emailed him instead of you? And does she have a name? It feels weird just referring to someone as she."

"Her name is Tiffany Taylor." Caroline snorted when Elena said that. "Yeah, it sounds like a porn name to me too. And she told Damon some rigamarole about how after she sent the initial email, his was the one in her file and she keeps forgetting to change it. Damon thinks it's no big deal because he would never go to the conference without me."

"So maybe it's not such a big deal. Maybe you are blowing this out of proportion." Caroline suggested.

"Oh I know I am blowing it out of proportion, but Caroline, she calls me ma'am. She calls him Damon and she calls me ma'am." Elena drained her coffee cup and slammed the cup down on the table next to the couch.

"Ma"am? Ok you aren't overreacting. She is clearly the spawn of Satan. No woman likes to be called ma'am by another adult. What's up?" Caroline noticed Elena was staring at something in the restaurant through the window in the door to Damon's office.

"You have got to be kidding me!"  
Elena said. "That's her. Bet you anything she is hoping Damon is working and I am at home. How many times a week do you think she eats here?"

"Which one is she? The blonde at the bar?" Caroline asked coming to the window and looking out at the dining room.

Elena sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands. "No. Worse. The brunette in the corner booth."

"Where? Oh... her! No wonder you are so upset." Caroline sympathized. "I think this calls for something stronger. Should I go ask for something outside?"

"Are you kidding? This is Damon's office after all. Top cabinet behind the binders there are several kinds of alcohol and two shot glasses. It's up high to hide from Rina, but Damon hasn't changed that much."

Caroline stood up on her toes and moved the binders to the side. "Ahh. There is is bourbon, more bourbon and a few other kinds of hard stuff. Name your poison."

"Tequila," Elena told her.

Caroline got down the bottle and two shot glasses. "Wow, you really are depressed. Do you want some lime? Ohhhkay never mind." Elena had already poured herself a shot and slammed it back before Caroline finished talking. "Feel better now?"

"Nope," Elena told her, fixing herself another shot. "Are you going to drink or talk?"

Caroline did a shot. "I can do both but Elena, how much have you had to eat today? Maybe we should get some food in you." She opened the door and told the waiter to bring two plates of fries back to Damon's office. She also texted Damon that Elena was upset and getting drunk in his office. She came back inside to see Elena finishing another shot. "Ok, just slow down until the food gets here. You are human and you are going to have a terrible headache tomorrow."

"I'm off until seven tomorrow night. See I am boring and predictable. I wouldn't dream of doing something irresponsible like get drunk unless I know I have no place to be tomorrow morning. I am an old responsible adult."

"Ok wait. I'm confused." Caroline told her. "So now being responsible is a bad thing too?"

"It means I'm old. And boring and predictable. Miss Big Boobs the teacher slash porn star probably isn't. I bet she is fun and spontaneous and..."

"Ok," Caroline grabbed the bottle and glass from Elena before she could down her fourth shot and drank it herself. "I'm cutting you off."

The door opened and one of the waiters came in carrying two plates of fries and a pot of coffee. He was one of Elena's favorites, a young red headed freckle face named Phil. "Hey Elena, there is some hot chick out there looking for Damon. What should I tell her?"

Elena picked up the coffee pot and poured some in her cup. "Don't tell her anything. But Phil, I'll tell Damon to give you a raise if you spit in her drink and sneeze on her food."

Phil laughed. "Yeah right. I'm not waiting on her. I'd be likely to trip over my feet and spill her food in her lap. She is so gorgeous." 

"Yeah. Yeah." Elena picked at the fries. "That seems to be the popular opinion."

"Elena, you aren't seriously worried about her and Damon are you?" Phil asked her.

"Not exactly..." Elena told him. "She just makes me feel so insecure."

"Well Damon is legendary around here for how oblivious he is to girls that are actually trying to hit on him. I'm mean he flirts all the time and girls flirt back. But only one girl has actually tried to make something happen. Damon fired her so fast it made all our heads spin. And all the waiters know we would be out on our ear if we flirted with you. Plus... her beauty is kind of obvious..." Phil said hesitantly.

"I know. That's the problem," Elena told him.

"But what I mean is it's only skin deep. She's the selfish type. You can tell. The type that will send her food back just because she can. You are every bit as pretty but you are pretty inside too."

"Thanks Phil. I needed that." She patted his cheek and kissed it as he left the room.

"Oh and by the way, Damon just showed up so unless you want him to know you are drunk, you might start mainlining coffee." Phil suggested over his shoulder.

"Caroline what did you do?" Elena asked.

Caroline looked up from her plate of fries. She had been trying to avoid eye contact with Elena since Phil came in. "Ok, so I may have texted Damon."

"I can't look. Does the barracuda have him in her clutches?" Elena asked.

Caroline looked out the window into the dining room. "She is trying to get his attention, but he is talking to one of the wait staff. He kind of gave her a head nod and a half hearted wave. Now he is headed this way and that is my cue to leave." Damon opened the door and Caroline snuck past him as she said, "hi Damon. Bye Damon. Call me tomorrow Elena."

"Later Blondie. Thanks for the heads up." Damon said to the empty doorway. He closed the office door and closed the blinds on the window. "You want to tell me why you and Caroline are getting drunk on a Tuesday night?"

"Because I'm old and look gross and Stefan's teacher is a porn star."

"Miss Taylor is a porn star? Does the schoolboard know?" Damon asked.

"That's the piece of information you fixated on? Out of everything I said she is what you focused on."

"Ok clearly I am missing something. I commented on that because it is the only one of the three things that you said that might be remotely true. You are not old and you do not look gross. What's going on Elena?" He sat down next to her on the couch.

"I hate the way she flirts with you." Elena blurted out. 

"Miss Taylor? Please Elena. This is about Miss Taylor? I don't even know her first name."

"It's Tiffany," Elena practically spat the name.

Damon burst out laughing. "Tiffany Taylor. No wonder you said she was a porn star. That does sound like a ridiculously made up name. You can't possibly be jealous of her?"

"Not jealous exactly. Just feeling old and frumpy and predictable." Elena put down her empty coffee cup. She was feeling less buzzed and more foolish by the minute. "It's not that I think you would take her up on it or anything, but it just bothers me that she is so obvious. She doesn't even try to hide it."

"Obvious is the key word. Actually the word I would choose is pathetic. I would much rather have you," he kissed her lips. "in your scrubs or out of your scrubs even better," he grazed his hand down her chest. "With your hair in a bun even the gray streak you keep dyeing to hide from me," he pulled the pins out of her hair so it flowed over her shoulders. "Than her in whatever dress she has on. She is like a small candle. Bright when you look directly at it but nothing compared to the sun. And that's what you are, Elena. To me, you are as bright as the sun. Have I forgotten to tell you that lately? Does it seem like I take you for granted? I promise you I don't. I still can't believe that I am lucky enough to spend my life with you. And no other woman would even compare to you. I'm sorry I haven't let you feel that."

Elena sighed. "It's silly, I know. And it's not that I doubt your love or think you are tempted. It's just that she makes me feel insecure. And that's not something I'm used to feeling. And I guess most of all, she makes me feel old. I guess maybe I started to worry that one day when I am old and wrinkled you won't look at me the same."

"Elena, you are beautiful but not because you have gorgeous eyes or pretty hair or a killer body, although you have all three, you are beautiful because you are warm and compassionate. Because your smile lights up a room. Because your laugh warms my heart. And because your heart woke up my humanity even when everyone else thought it was lost. You'll still be all those things when you are 95. And you will still be beautiful."

"Damon, I needed that." She kissed him. "Wait. Where are the kids?"

Damon laughed. "And she's back. There is my organized and..."

"Boring," Elena interrupted.

"I was going to say devoted mother of my kids. And to answer your question, Monica is at the house. I just told her I needed to come get you because you weren't feeling well. But if you are worried about being predictable, the door is locked and I told Phil not to let anyone in..." He pushed her down onto her back.

"Damon, we can't..." she protested between kisses.

"Sure we can. Besides, we have to do something to make sure that we aren't boring and predictable. I'm feeling challenged."

Later, Damon asked her. "Are you feeling better, baby?"

She smiled. "I'm feeling stupid. I guess I just never really thought about growing old meaning that I would actually get old. And I just... well I do worry about dumb things like going gray and wrinkles."

Damon put his hand under her chin and forced her to look into his eyes. "Will you love me any less if I walk with a cane or grow bald?"

"Of course not."

"Don't ever forget we are in this together. Next time talk to me instead of getting drunk. I can't believe I'm the one saying that." He kissed her.

"I guess that makes you officially a grown up." She told him.

"Don't worry. You'll get there one day!" He told her with a smirk.


	10. Embarrassment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Rina's point of view

2 years later

 

 

Rina isn't exactly sure when she realized her parents weren't like other parents. And that doesn't mean the fact that they were once vampires and Dad is almost 200 years old. That part is weird of course but it makes history projects really easy if Dad is in the mood to cooperate and it makes reading those vampire romances her friends enjoy kind of gross. But the way they are different is in how they treat each other.

Mom and Dad don't see it either. They think the only difference between them and all the other parents of Mystic Falls is the things they did in the past. And Rina gets that they fought a lot of bad guys and it changed their life and all, but that is in the past. It doesn't affect her life, except for the fact that she has to wear vervain and drink vervain tea. And of course there is the fact that Mom and Aunt Caroline are actually the same age which is a little freaky. But really, she can almost forget the vampire thing most days, but the other things...

She didn't notice the differences until one night when she was spending the night with her best friend Megan Fell. She suddenly realizes that though Megan's parents love each other, they don't act like her parents do at all.

For example, she bets Mr. Fell has never danced around the kitchen with Mrs. Fell. At least she's never seen it and she has been to Megan's house a lot. But at her house on the nights when Dad isn't at the Grill and Mom isn't working overnight at the hospital, which happens about four nights a week, the whole family makes dinner in the kitchen. They turn the radio on to listen to music while they cook, and if a sappy love song comes on, Dad takes Mom's hand and dances with her around the kitchen. Every. Time. And there are tons of sappy love songs on every different station. He always finishes the dance with a dip and a big kiss, and Mom looks at him with this big goofy grin on her face that she only ever gets when looking at Dad. Megan thinks it's romantic, because, yes, they even do it when other people are around. Rina thinks it's just plain embarrassing.

And that's not all. They always seem to be touching. If they are in the same room, they are holding hands or Dad has his arm around Mom, or even worse sometimes Mom sits in Dad's lap when they think they are alone. And that isn't just at the house either. Last week at her school performance, she sees Mom and Dad in the front row cheering her performance. Dad is videoing it with his phone like all the other dads, but when he finishes, he puts the phone down, grabs Mom's hand, kisses it, and puts their joined hands in his lap. She didn't see any of the other parents holding hands. So embarrassing.

And the kissing is even worse. They kiss all the time and they don't even care where they are. It happens an awful lot at the Grill because Dad owns it and her friends like to hang out there because Dad gives them free food. Most days she doesn't mind that all her friends like her dad, but when Mom and Dad start acting mushy she wishes they were anywhere else. Just recently, she was celebrating her 12th birthday. Her parents let her go to the movies by herself with her friends, and then they sat at a table at the Grill without any parents. She felt so grown up she almost didn't care Dad was probably spying on them from behind the bar. But then her mom walks in. She had worked all night at the hospital the night before, so once she got home, showered, and slept it had probably been 24 hours since dad had seen her. But is that any reason for him to come out from behind the bar and grab Mom and kiss her like they kiss at the end of a sappy love story? Right in the middle of the Grill too. And of course her friends point it out. Megan thinks it's cute, but it's not her parents acting like that. Just. So. Embarrassing!

She is glad her parents love each other, but she wishes they were a little bit more restrained. Particularly Dad. He gets this look on his face when he looks at her sometime like the whole world could fall away and he wouldn't even notice. They have been together longer than Rina has been alive so Dad should be used to looking at Mom by now, but somehow he isn't. And it's embarrassing seeing that look. It always happens when Mom is walking downstairs, like he is so happy she is walking to him. Rina isn't sure who else he thinks she would be walking to, but that is what his face looks like. Sometimes he just gives Mom that look from across the room. And it's even more sappy because Dad usually follows the look up with a kiss or a compliment, even if they are in public. It's like they have no filter at all. She gets that they are in love, but do they have to make it so obvious? Ugh! Really embarrassing!

And they are always sneaking off to be together. They eat lunch together once a week when she and Stefan are at school. And they call it a date. Parents aren't supposed to date each other. Plus, they have had like twelve second honeymoons. All the other parents she knows like each other, but they don't want to spend every waking moment together. Sometimes she thinks her parents do.

And they think the weirdest places are romantic. Rina won't even go out on the front porch if Mom and Dad are sitting in the swing together. She figures they must have had some romantic moment there in the past. And the first time the family went to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant, she realizes something big in their past happened there because Dad was giving Mom the look and she was smiling the goofy smile. But once she caught a sappy look pass between them when they were driving in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, what could be romantic about a deserted road out in the middle of nowhere?

What's more, everyone knows her parents act this way and no one seems to want to do anything about it. Aunt Caroline just tells her it's romantic and she will appreciate more when she is older. Eww gross. Parents aren't supposed to be romantic.

Uncle Ric isn't sympathetic at all. He says, "Sorry kid. They have always been like that. And nobody has ever made your dad do anything he didn't want in his life, except your mom. And I'm pretty sure she likes it fine."

Uncle Jeremy is sometimes sympathetic. He says, "I know. They get like that sometimes. You can always come and hang out with your aunt, your cousins and me anytime." But then he ruffles her hair and grins and she knows he is just humoring her.

But the worst part of all is that secretly she wishes some guy would do all those things with her that Dad does with Mom. But since her parents are the only one she knows that act like that, she figures finding a guy like Dad is pretty rare.


	11. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is from their son Stefan's point of view

Stefan had always known that he looked like his uncle who he is named after. Since his uncle was born in the 1800s, there aren't many baby pictures, but as he got older, people commented on the resemblance even more. And with that came what Stefan always called the look. His relatives got this far off expression on their face and he knew they weren't seeing him but instead the other Stefan. But he had never seen the look on Dad's face until this year when he turned eight.

Stefan had always been serious and interested in school work. He particularly liked history mostly because he has gotten a big dose of past events from everyone in his family. When that look crossed people's face, Stefan always got subjected to a long story about the past. Stefan had probably heard everything about his parents' past that they were willing to share. Rina always called him a nerd. She hated to hear about Mom and Dad as vampires. But Stefan can't get enough of the stories. And he had always been fascinated by the bits of history Dad related to him when Dad was relaxed. Dad won't talk about the past much, but every now and then Stefan could make him share.

Aunt Caroline had gotten the look most often of all his family. Stefan figured that was because she was actually married to his uncle. Looking at Stefan always made Aunt Caroline a little sad, but Stefan made that work to his advantage early on. She felt bad that looking at him made her sad, so she worked extra hard to be nice to him to make up for that. Which means Stefan had been able to get Aunt Caroline to agree to give him whatever he wanted. Rina hated when Aunt Caroline babysat 

Uncle Ric doesn't get sad. Seeing Stefan just always reminded him of some story. Stefan had gotten a lot of adventures out of Uncle Ric. And he tended to view their past as an archeological quest, or at least that was how he told the stories to Stefan. Before Stefan turned eight, he thought it might be fun to be an archeologist.

Uncle Jeremy doesn't look sad either. He had always wanted Stefan to be prepared to fight vampires. Stefan thought his uncle must have been the first vampire Uncle Jeremy met which meant that Stefan's face had always reminded him that humans need to be ready to protect themselves against vampires.

Mom doesn't always get the sad look on her face. Most of the time, Stefan had seen normal mom faces from her: pride, love, exasperation- the usual kind of stuff. But Stefan had always liked to use big words and express big thoughts. He noticed whenever he told Mom something about how he thought life should work, she would get a little sad. That's when he realized Uncle Stefan tried to figure out that kind of stuff too. He didn't like making Mom sad, but he can't be only concerned with the here and now like Rina. Sometimes he wanted to know why. But Mom seemed to know that he still had the thoughts even if he didn't tell them to her. So she gave Stefan a journal. She told him that she and his uncle used to keep them and that he should write down any thought he wanted to remember. Sometimes he has shared his journal with Mom and when he did, she smiled that half proud half sad smile. And then she hugged him tight.

Dad has always been the one that just saw Stefan when he looked at him. Which Stefan felt was strange because Dad knew Uncle Stefan the best. He figured it must be that Dad saw the ways he was different as much as the ways he was alike.

Dad had always been Stefan's favorite person. He loved Mom of course, but he enjoyed being around Dad the most. Dad took him flying a lot. Most times Dad took Rina too, and Rina wanted Dad to do crazy dives and stunts in the plane. Rina can't be still. Stefan liked it best when it was just him and his Dad. One time Dad let him fly the plane, but Dad told him not to tell Mom because she would worry. Stefan felt like he was seeing the real dad up there in the clouds away from everything. Dad told him that sometime his thoughts made his brain feel cluttered and flying cleared out the cobwebs.

He also liked it when he and Dad cooked. The whole family helped make dinner, but Rina burned whatever she was supposed to make so most days Mom and Dad made her set the table and wash the dishes. Mom tried to cook, but she couldnt really make things taste as good as Dad. Dad just gave her chores like chopping and stirring. He would let Stefan help him actually cook. Stefan felt really proud that Dad trusted him enough for that.

Stefan had gotten used to the look. And he knew that his family loved him. But it surprised him when the look crossed Dad's face. He saw it when he told Dad that he wanted to be a psychologist. He wanted to know why people behaved the way they did. He figured he would discover why it was easier for him to be good than Rina and why some people were more serious than others. And he told Dad all that, and that was when Dad got the look. Dad told him that being a psychologist was fine, but that if Stefan figured out the answer to those questions he could write a book and make a million dollars because those questions were part of the meaning of life and Dad didn't think even psychologists knew the answer to that.

That made Stefan think maybe he might want to be an archeologist after all, because if he can't find the answer to those questions, then maybe he would just have to learn to live with the look.


	12. Surprise

1 year later

 

Damon never really cared about birthdays when he was a vampire. What was the point of celebrating the fact that he did not grow a year older? Stefan and Lexi always celebrated Stefan's, but that was Lexi's idea. Since he has been human, Elena insists that he celebrate his birthday. Most years, they celebrate together since their birthdays are only days apart. They share a cake and have a family party. Or sometimes they go out to eat. On a few birthdays, Elena has sent Damon to the Grill with Ric and told them to get drunk and relive their glory days.

But on what Elena calls milestone birthdays, they always celebrate separately. Those are birthdays that end in zero or five. For his thirtieth, Elena bought him a plane. He loved to fly and getting his pilots license had been a great idea, but he had never actually bought his own plane. So Elena bought him one, just before they moved from Seattle.

For his thirty fifth birthday, Elena had planned a vacation to Hawaii. They packed the whole family over there for a week. And Elena bought surfing lessons for Damon. So he is anxious to see what she has planned for his fortieth. He grumbles a lot, but he really likes that she makes a big fuss about his birthday. He would never admit it out loud, but he really likes having someone care enough to make a big fuss. If he's honest, that's the real reason he never celebrated before. He didn't even have a Lexi to celebrate with.

That's why he is a little surprised when Elena tells him they are just going to celebrate together this year. His family party is nice. This year Jeremy, Monica, and their two girls come too. His nieces drew him a picture that is supposed to be their family but it kind of looks like a bunch of twigs to Damon. But he makes a big deal about it and puts it on the refrigerator, just like he did with his own kids art when they were three. Jeremy gives him vervain and an old sword he had found online that actually was used in the Civil War. Jeremy tends to think no one has enough weapons. Damon thinks Jeremy is perpetually living inside some video game where hordes of vampires will attack at every moment. Rina gives him a shirt she bought with his credit card and then promptly asks if she can borrow it some time. Elena and Stefan coordinated their gift. Elena gives him a new iPhone and Stefan gives him a phone case that actually has a compartment in the back for money and credit cards to use in place of a wallet. It's a nice birthday. Just not worthy of a milestone. Particularly not a big milestone like 40.

Elena wants to go to see a romantic comedy when the actual date of her birthday rolls around. Damon reluctantly agrees. He is feeling a little sulky and considers being petty and telling her no since she didn't really do anything special for his big day. But it's Elena. And even after all these years, he can't disappoint her. He comforts himself with the idea that if the movie is bad, he will throw popcorn at people's head or maybe he will make out with Elena. He will make sure they sit in the back.

But when he and Elena get to the theatre, Rina, Stefan, Caroline, Ric, Jeremy, Monica and all their kids are there. Elena has rented out the whole theatre. "You didn't really think I would let something as big as 40 pass without making a big deal, did you?" Elena asks.

"What is going on?" Damon is still puzzled.

"Sit here," Elena tells him. "But you don't get any popcorn. I wouldn't want you to throw it at our friends." Elena sits next to him and everyone but Rina and Stefan finds a seat. They are standing at the front of the theatre next to the screen when the lights dim.

The screen is still black when Stefan says, "On June 18, 1839 Dad was born."

"But since that was a zillion years ago, we don't have any pictures of that. But we do have this picture of his childhood from before color pictures even exist," Rina says as the picture Elena snagged from the 1903 prison world appears on screen.

"Dad's life was pretty boring. He grew up. Went to war. Came home." A picture of him and Stefan from around the time they died is on screen. He has no idea where Elena found it. Maybe it was in some of Stefan's old stuff.

"But then Dad met Mom and color photographs were invented so we have a lot more pictures," Rina says.

They continue to narrate Damon's life since he met Elena. There are pictures from when they were dating, wedding pictures, pictures of the kids as babies. His whole life unfolds on the screen and he realizes how much he has actually lived in the last fifteen years. The previous hundred and something years really were dark and depressing. Elena and the kids brought the color into his life. The last shot is a selfie he had taken of he and Elena the last time they were out by themselves. It is currently the screen saver on his phone. The slide show ends with that photo and the words "Happy 40th Birthday Damon. I'm looking forward to every one of the next forty years together! Love, Elena."

The lights come back on and Damon tries to compose himself so that no one will see the tears leaking out of his eyes. He covers by grabbing Elena and dipping her down into a big dramatic kiss. "Were you surprised?" She asks. 

"Yeah. You got me good. I didn't suspect a thing."

"I told you we were going to share our birthday this year. The family party was for me because I got presents that day too and on my birthday, this is for you."

"Thanks everybody. I don't know what to say." He hugs Rina and Stefan. "I'm just at a loss for words right now."

"Let's move on to the next phase of the night which includes bourbon so maybe you will find the right words after a few drinks." Elena tells him.

She takes him to the Grill where Phil, who is now assistant manager, has decorated the whole place. There are banners with tombstones and "over the hill" hanging above the bar. Clusters of black balloons are everywhere. And a cake that reads "Happy Birthday Old Man" sits on the bar. "Wow. I don't know what to say. Thanks." He tells all his employees who are there with his friends, even the employees that are supposed to be off that night. "I feel really lucky to be here tonight. I have a great family and great friends. I'm glad you could all be here to celebrate with me." When he blows the candles out, he wishes for more of the same for the next fifteen years and he thinks to himself that there isn't anything about his life that he would change except to have his brother here with him to witness it. 

"Thanks Stef." He says under his breath, saluting him with his glass. He knows he gets to have this life because Stefan sacrificed himself for the whole town. He only hopes that if Stefan has found peace and if he can somehow look down and see, he is proud.

After the party, Elena and Damon are alone in their room. "I still can't believe we managed to surprise you. I thought you had figured it out." She tells him.

"No. I was actually a little disappointed you hadn't planned anything."

She smiles. "I knew you actually like celebrating your birthday! You just won't admit it."

"Don't be too smug. Your fortieth is in a few years and I can have time to plan something really embarrassing."

"More embarrassing than me trying to learn to surf on your thirty fifth birthday?"She asks.

"Yes. I noticed none of those pictures made it into the slide show. In fact, I'm pretty sure you are the only person who didn't have at least one embarrassing picture in there, including our friends."

"Of course." She says with a smirk worthy of Damon. "I'm the one who made the slide show."

He pulls her into his arms. "Just remember what goes around comes around..."

"Yeah well, I figured I would need something special to sway you over to my side so an embarrassing slide show doesn't happen to be a feature in my birthday party..."

"Oh yeah? And what was your plan?"

"Well, you have yet to unwrap your last birthday present, and since you once told me it was your favorite present of all, I'm hoping it will be good enough that you can make sure any terrible pictures of me disappear and especially that they don't make it into Caroline's hands because I know she will want revenge for that one picture..."

"I don't know..." he says with a smile. "That's an awfully big favor you are asking..."

"What if I told you I had bought some ammunition in the form of new lingerie to sweeten the deal?"

"I would say why are we still talking?" He kisses her and starts to undress her.


	13. Love

1 year later

 

Elena was putting away groceries and talking to Rina and Stefan when Damon came home. "But Mom, I want everything to be perfect,"Rina wailed.

"I told you Trent can come for dinner and he can help you study, but you will study down here at the table and not in your bedroom." Elena told her. 

"Fine. I have to go get ready," Rina stomped her way up the stairs to show her displeasure.

"You know they didn't actually plan to study, right?" Stefan questioned.

"Of course she did. Neither your mother nor I are the idiots you and your sister seem to think." Damon said from the doorway. He came in and kissed Elena hello.

"She says she needs help in Biology. If she really wanted to study she'd ask Mom." Stefan continued.

"Yes, but Trent is actually good in science. He is in a medical club at school and they come by the hospital sometimes."Elena said.

"But that doesn't make us stupid enough to let them study upstairs with the door closed. In fact, if he is like I was at fifteen, maybe we shouldn't let him in the house." Damon responded.

"Damon, you will be nice won't you? This is the first boy Rina has really liked."

"Elena, I am a dad. It is both my job and my privilege to make fun of the boy."

Stefan laughed, but Elena protested, "Damon!"

Rina arrived back downstairs in time to hear that. "Dad! Are you going to embarass me? Stefan you can't talk about your boring history stories, and Mom, please don't talk about your patients at the table."

"Stefan can talk about whatever he wants, but do I really talk about my patients at the dinner table?" Elena asked.

 

Damon kissed her quickly. "Yes, you do and it's gross." He said with mock exaggeration.

She looped her arms around his neck and pulled him back down for another kiss. "Says the man who drank people's blood for 150 years."

"Yes, but I didn't talk about it at the dinner table."

Elena laughed. "Oh, of course. Now I see the difference." She said as Damon pulled her back up for a longer kiss.

"Dad! Seriously will you try to act normal and not be so kissy with mom and try not to tell your jokes or anything about the past or ...."

"I get it, Carina. You want me to be silent. Sorry to disappoint you, but the last time I checked I was still the parent. I will behave as I see fit and you will deal. I'm going upstairs to wash up and change clothes. I wouldn't want my shirt with the Grill logo to embarrass you."

"What was that about?" Rina asked, puzzled as Damon left the room.

Elena kept setting the table. "You asked Stefan and me to be careful what we talked about. You told your dad to change his whole personality."

"That isn't...I didn't... He just..."  
She sat down at the table. "I didn't mean it that way. He just isn't really like other dads. And most days I like that.."

"Your dad has never really been like other people. It's part of what makes him who he is. And he has never really been willing to pretend just so people will like him. He won't say anything about vampires or supernatural stuff, but I can't guarantee what else he will say." Elena told her with a laugh. "But the good thing is that your dad will give Trent the same freedom to say whatever he wants too."

"I didn't mean to hurt Dad's feelings. Or to suggest that he change his personality. He's just so unpredictable that I'm never sure how he's going to act. Doesn't that ever worry you?" Rina asked. 

"Not really." Elena told her. "It might have a long time ago. But your dad is smart. He doesn't always conform to what you might think is normal behavior but he does know the proper way to behave in public. He runs a successful business. He's helped me raise two pretty bright kids. And his employees all respect him. The fact that he's managed to do all that while still being true to himself is pretty impressive to me. At the risk of being too sappy in your eyes, I will say that I love him more now than I did when we first started dating."

"Should I apologize?" Rina asked sincerely. "I mean I love dad. I think he's great."

"He knows. Just give him a little time to cool off." Elena put the finishing touches on dinner and Rina walked into the living room to wait for Trent.

Stefan had been silent during the whole exchange, but after Rina left the room, he asked, "Is that what you liked about Dad? His unpredictability?"

Elena looked over at Stefan. "No, actually it scared me for a long while. But I came to realize that he was absolutely fine with me no matter how I behaved and all he wanted from me was the same thing, provided we agree to tell each other when we have crossed the line. There's a great comfort in knowing someone will always love you. And your dad always has."

"So Uncle Stefan didn't always love you?"

She smiled. "Even parents have secrets sometimes, Stefan. And I am afraid as far as you're concerned, my relationship with your uncle is going to have to stay a secret. I will say that I have never once regretted choosing your dad. He has been my rock for years. Why don't you go wait in the living room with Rina?"

Damon came in just as Stefan left the room. "I guess I overreacted." He told Elena

"She isn't as diplomatic as she could be, but she's fifteen. She doesn't think anything through before she says it. Just try to be a little nice. Unless of course he treats her bad. Then you can be as mean as you want." Elena told him.

"It's times like these I really miss being able to scare people as a vampire." Damon said as the doorbell rang.

Dinner was relatively peaceful. Trent was nervous and on edge. Damon made a couple of sarcastic remarks. Elena started to launch into a story about a patient and checked herself. Stefan used his interest in history to find out about Trent's past.

After dinner, Elena and Damon went out to the front porch, Rina and Trent spread their books out on the table, and Stefan went upstairs.

"Do I embarrass you too?" Damon asked Elena after a few minutes of peaceful silence.

"No. Why would you ask that question?"

"You didn't want to tell Stefan about your relationship with my brother. I assumed that was because you didn't want to make me look bad in front of our son."

"You haven't been worried about my feelings for Stefan all these years have you?"

"Not worried exactly. I just know all the ways I am not as good for you as he was. Every now and then, I come face to face with it and I wonder if you weren't better off with him."

"Damon, I never compare you. Actually, that's not true. I do sometimes and he comes up short, not you. He couldn't love me unconditionally. You were there for me so many times when he wasn't, even when Stefan and I were together. My love for you was always much bigger than my love for him. I didn't say anything to our son Stefan because everyone is always telling him how much like the other Stefan he is. I worried if I told him what that relationship was like and all the ways it fell short of my relationship with you, I would make him uncomfortable."

"Elena, I don't deserve you, but I definitely love you." He kissed her passionately.

"What were we discussing?" She asked jokingly after they broke apart.

Trent came barreling out of the front door with Rina yelling, "Don't come back!" out the door after him.

Damon started after him, but Elena stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Tell us what happened, Rina." She said.

"We started studying and then Stefan came downstairs for a snack so Trent asked why we couldn't go upstairs to study where it was quieter. I told him that was your rule. He then suggested that since Stefan was back upstairs and y'all were outside, we could make out a little. I thought I heard a noise, so I pulled away and wanted to get back to studying. He didn't and told me that he really only liked me when I was making out with him and he didn't have to listen to me talk." Rina couldn't hold back the tears at this point.

"That punk..." Damon started to leave the porch after him, but Elena stopped him.

"Wait Damon. If he shows up at the Grill, you can do your worst and I guarantee he won't enjoy the next time the medical club is at the hospital, but let's just go inside right now." She led Rina back inside and to the couch. "Can you make her some tea, Damon?"

"Please not vervain tea. Haven't I suffered enough today?" Rina asked.

Damon and Elena exchanged a smile, glad to see her bouncing back. "One cup of not vervain tea," Damon said heading toward the kitchen.

"I'm sorry this happened, but it's better you find out now before you got too serious about him."

"I think I am crying more because I am angry than sad." Rina told her. "I thought he was one of the good ones."

"They are a rare breed. But this is what I meant when I was talking to you about your dad. If someone truly loves you, they will let the relationship evolve at your pace. They will be ok with all your feelings no matter what they are. Things weren't always smooth sailing for your dad and me, but we always accepted each other. Your dad was better at it than I was."

Damon came in and handed the mug of tea to Rina. "That's because your mother never really did anything that was objectionable. Me on the other hand..."

"Did Dad ever try to kiss you against your will?" Rina asked as she sipped her tea.

Damon looked like he was holding his breath as he waited for Elena to speak. "Your dad wasn't always perfect. Being a vampire really complicates your emotions. But all of the troubles we went through just solidified in my mind how great it was to have him by my side."

He let out a deep breath. "Your mom is being kinder than I deserve. She gave me plenty of extra chances but I never used her just for making out either. Our relationship was built on friendship first. And any boy who only wants to make out, isn't worth your time. In fact, I don't think you should make out until you are twenty five period."

"Dad!" Rina protested, laughing. 

"I'm sort of serious." He told Rina kissing her forehead. "Do you want me to beat him up for you?"

"No, but you can get his order wrong next time he's at the Grill. Put mayonnaise all over his burger. He hates that."

"You got it." Damon told her.

Later that night, Damon was calling Trent all sorts of names as they dressed for bed. Elena chuckled. "Damon I hate to tell you this, but this was a mild break up. She will probably get her heart broken many more times before she is grown."

He sat down hard on the bed. "How many times?"

"I have no idea. It varies from person to person." She sat down next to him.

"Who broke your heart?" He asked, pulling her close to him.

"Everybody I dated. Matt broke my heart because I knew I broke his. You and Stefan both broke it lots of times. It's part of growing up."

"If I could go back and change all the times I hurt you, I would."

"I wouldn't change a thing. All those moments brought me to right here. And I like here. I like my life with you. Don't you like our life?"

"Of course. But I worry I don't deserve it. And I wonder if I am getting to live this amazing life only because Stefan is gone. And I wonder if peace really exists."

"It does. And I think he found it, just like I think you will one day. In the meantime, I keep finding more ways to love you." She kissed him.

"I'm not sure it's possible to love you more than I do already, but every day you remind me multiple times a day why I love you as much as I do."

"Damon..." She was near tears at the feeling behind his words.

He brushed the tears away. "No crying. Not even happy tears because my favorite thing about this life is making love to my wife and I can't do that if you are crying."

She laughed. "What do you know? It's my favorite thing too."


	14. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I had planned. Thanks so much to everyone who read and also to those who left kudos. I didn't really have many expectations because I wrote these little snippets for me, but I am very glad other people enjoyed them. And I only hope I did justice to characters we all know and love.

3 years later

 

Elena asks Damon to go to the attic for some boxes. They are packing Rina up for college. She is leaving for Virginia Tech in 2 weeks. Damon and Elena would have liked somewhere a bit closer to home, but neither really wanted her to go to Whitmore. Too many bad memories there.

While in the attic, Damon gets sidetracked. He remembers how he always accused Stefan of being a pack rat. Damon feels like maybe he has become the pack rat now.

There is a box of baby clothes from Rina's childhood and one for Stefan as well. In Rina's box, there is the lime green baby hat the old lady in the hospital had given him. He finds the doll he bought Rina when Elena was away finishing medical school. And the play cell phone Rina drug around the house for years until she got one of her own.

Stefan's box has lots of kid friendly history books. And a whip and fedora from his phase where he wanted to be an archeologist. And plenty of academic awards and trophies.

And of course, there are boxes and boxes of pictures. Damon looks through some, remembering Rina and Stefan's childhood. At 18 and 14, neither are babies any more. He doesn't realize how long he has been in the attic until Elena comes to get him.

"Hey, you've been up here about 30 minutes. What's going on?" She asks.

"Just reminiscing. We have a bunch of memories up here. These are the blueprints for this house. Here is a picture of that first plane you bought me."

"Oh look. Rina's old doll. And her baby clothes. Where did the time go, Damon?"

"I don't know. Do you realize I have been human for twenty years now?"

"I don't feel like we should be that old. And we're really not. I'm 40. You're 45. I feel like that's the prime of life. And yet, our daughter is heading off to college. She is older now than I was when I met you." Elena tells him.

"That's scary to think about. What were you doing making life or death decisions that young? I'm glad she never had to face those kind of choices."

"I didn't make them either. Mostly you and Stefan just decided for me." Elena says with a smile.

"Very funny. But I do remember not wanting to take the cure when I got shot with werewolf venom before your graduation. When I thought about 20 years in the future, that seemed so long. 45 seemed so old. But now, on one hand twenty years seems to have gone by so fast. And yet, in other ways especially when I look at all we've done, it seems like forever ." Damon smiles ruefully. "I'm pretty sure I've lived more in the last 20 years than I did in the entire 150 years I lived before."

"Any regrets?" Elena asks. "Anything you would have done differently?"

Damon thinks for a minute, and shakes his head. "I wouldn't change a second of our life together. I have enjoyed every moment. I just wish Stefan could have been around to share it."

"He would have been proud of you." Elena tells him. 

"When I stop and think about it, that's what makes me the saddest. He wanted a human life more than I did, but I am the one who gets to live it. It doesn't seem fair."

"But he lived life to the best of his ability even as a vampire. That was why he kept so much clutter in the Salvatore boarding house."

"I was just thinking about that. I used to call him a pack rat, and yet here I am with an attic full of memories just like he had at the boarding house. I used to wonder why he left so much junk behind. Now I realize, it's not junk. It's memories. That's what's left behind. I think he would be glad I get that now."

"I know he would. We are doing what he always wanted us to do. We are living our normal human life. We've raised good kids, and we have careers we enjoy." Elena sits down next to Damon. "So what do you want to do with the next phase of our life now that our kids are grown?"

He puts his arm around her. "I've been thinking about franchising the Grill. Maybe opening up some bars in other small town Virginia towns." He looks at her to gauge her reaction.

She looks proud and not the least bit skeptical. "I think that's a great idea. You've done so well with the business here. The Grill never really made money until you bought it. And you're good at training young employees. Phil is capable of running the place here and he owes it all to your mentoring."

"I can't take credit for Phil's success. He was already a good kid before he started working for me. I'm just lucky he never went anywhere else. What about you?"

"I think I would like to take up some new hobbies. I'd like to travel. I've never been out of the country." She tells him.

"I like that idea. The last time I was in Europe, I was drunk so it might be nice to actually go sightseeing this time."

She shakes her head in exasperation. "Poor Bonnie. I don't think you or Ric were very good company that trip. I might like to take up something like painting or photography too. I could have a painting or photo of the places we've been."

"I'd stick with photography. I've seen you play pictionary and drawing is not your strong suit."

"Ha ha. Very funny. What about you? Any hobbies you want to take up?" 

"Hmmm... I know one that I think will change my life."

"What's that?" She asks suspiciously. She can tell his next statement is going to be a joke just by his tone of voice. Damon loves that they can read each other so well after all these years. It's crazy, but the more he knows Elena, the more he loves her.

"My hobby is to make love in new and different places. Just think, when I travel with you, we can make love in each new city." He smirks.

"Damon! That's your idea of a hobby?" She smacks his arm playfully.

"It's a great hobby Elena. I think we should start right now. I've never made love in an attic before; have you?"

"I am not making love up here. It's hot, dirty, and who knows what has crawled on this floor." She protests.

He pulls a blanket from a nearby box and spreads it on the floor. "There. No more dirty floor. Problem solved." He starts to kiss her but she pushes him away and protests.

"Damon! The attic, really? I don't think this is the right place for this." Elena tries to pull away.

He smirks and raises his eyebrows suggestively. "Don't you want to help me with my new hobby? Besides, I guarantee you in a few minutes you'll forget all about the ambiance." He kisses her and pushes her down on to the blanket. He rolls over so he is on the bottom.

She pulls away after a couple of minutes and says, "This reminds me of the hayloft at Ric and Jo's wedding. Do you remember?"

"I remember you talking less and kissing more back then." He tells her as he captures her lips.

A few minutes later, Rina jerks open the attic door and yells "Stefan , I found...oh seriously?!? You have got to be kidding me!"

Though Damon and Elena are still clothed, they are laying down tangled together so Damon just replies, "Oops. Guess you wished you knocked first, huh?"

Rina sighs loudly, slams the attic door and stomps down the stairs. Damon and Elena hear her say, "Stefan trust me you won't believe what I saw. Mom and Dad were..." before her voice fades away.

Damon untangles himself from Elena and says, "I'm guessing the mood is spoiled even though I bet you neither of them ever come up here again when we are up here together."

"We can never be up here at the same time again! They will always think we are... you know." Elena is distressed.

Damon smirks. "I know. That means we have the privacy to fulfill my fantasy later. We just have to wait until the house is empty."

"Damon! Let's just get the boxes and go downstairs before I turn any redder." Elena fusses.

He grabs the empty boxes he came up to get and follows behind Elena. "You know one benefit to Rina leaving home is that the house will be empty more often. And when Stefan leaves home we will be all alone again. As much as we will miss the kids, that's not such a bad thing."

"Damon, you are incorrigible!" She tells him. "Is that all you think about?"

He drops the boxes and pulls her in for a kiss right in the hallway. "I can't help it if my wife is amazingly beautiful. What else can I do but make sure she knows how much I appreciate her."

"Thanks but I don't feel amazing or beautiful some days. I feel every one of my forty years. And a few extra too I think."

"All the more reason for me to make sure you know how beautiful you are to me, baby. Every difference between the Elena now and the Elena of twenty years ago just reminds me of all the years we shared together. Twenty years ago, your beauty left me speechless. You are even more beautiful today than you were then. I love you, Elena."

She smiles. "I love you too." Naturally, they come together for a kiss. And Stefan walks in the hall at that moment.

He covers his eyes with his hands. "Seriously? Still? You guys are worse than teenagers!" He says as he rushes past them.

Damon and Elena laugh. He kisses her quickly and releases her to pick up the boxes he dropped. "It looks like the rest will have to wait until tonight. But I am definitely looking forward to a house with less distractions."

"I know I will miss Rina, but it's nice to know there will be some compensations. At least life with you is never boring."

"Don't pretend like this was all my idea. We both know I can get you in the mood in two minutes tops." He acts like he is going to drag her back toward him so she backs away laughing.

"I love that you never change. And I can't wait to tour all those new places with you when we travel."

"Just make sure all our hotels have really comfy beds and maybe we can find some time for sightseeing after the important work is done."

"Damon!" She protests over her shoulder. They are walking to join the kids.

"What? Don't pretend you don't love it and me. Admit it. You're crazy about me." He smirks at her from behind.

"I'm definitely crazy for putting up with you all these years!" She retorts.

"Admit it," he tells her, "or I'll drop the boxes and prove to you how much you can't resist me."

"Is this your new favorite hobby? Trying to seduce me in inappropriate places?"

"Elena, I'm shocked." Damon says in mock dismay. "That's been my hobby for as long as I've known you. There is nothing new about it."

They continue to bicker good naturedly as they reach the kids. Rina and Stefan just look at each other and shake their heads. As much as their parents love them, even after twenty years, they still have the ability to get lost in each other. And Rina and Stefan know that's not likely to change, but there are worse things than knowing your parents are crazy in love.


End file.
